The Land Between
by psioniccat
Summary: Every cat in the forest disappears, leaving four remaining apprentices, one from each Clan. Each is as ordinary as the last - until they discover strange new abilities they can't control. The talentless Rainpaw, who can travel through time, the outcasted Rosepaw, who turns invisible, the disinterested Smokepaw, destroyer of reality, and...well, you'd just have to meet her.
1. Rainpaw

_The Land Between, Chapter One_

THUNDERCLAN

 **Leader-** Lightstar – white she-cat

 **Deputy-** Foxpelt – sandy gray tom, amber eyes

 **Medicine Cat-** Duskflight – speckled tabby tom

 **Warriors-** Brownwhisker – brown tabby tom, yellow eyes, apprentice, Mosspaw

Sagewing– a stocky calico she-cat with amber eyes, apprentice, Rainpaw

Snakestripe – a dark mottled tabby tom

Dewfrost – a reddish brown tom with green eyes, apprentice, Blackpaw

Moonclaw – a gray tabby she-cat, apprentice, Speckledpaw

 **Apprentices** \- Speckledpaw – an orange-and-white tom

Rainpaw – a patchy black and white tom with amber eyes

Blackpaw – a large, stocky black tom

Mosspaw – a grayish-brown she-cat

 **Queens-** Dawnleaf – a small calico she-cat, blue eyes

Skyfeather – a pure white she-cat with green eyes

SHADOWCLAN

 **Leader** – Redstar – a calico she-cat with a very long tail

 **Deputy-** Iceblaze– a pure white tom

 **Medicine Cat** \- Blackwing – a smoky black she-cat, apprentice, Thistlepaw

 **Warriors** – Sandfrost – a sandy brown she-cat

Sunwing – a silver gray tom

Greenwhisker – a ginger she-cat, bright green eyes

Spottedpelt – a patchy tabby tom, apprentice, Gingerpaw

Snakefur – a jet black tom with green eyes, apprentice, Smokepaw

 **Apprentices** \- Thistlepaw – a dark tabby she-cat with green eyes

Gingerpaw – a bright ginger tom

Smokepaw – a dark russet tom with orange eyes

 **Queens-** Thornwind – a dark tabby she-cat

WINDCLAN

 **Leader-** Heatherstar – a gray tabby tom

 **Deputy-** Dreamwhisker- a long-haired white she-cat

 **Medicine cat-** Daisyleaf – a stocky tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes, apprentice, Jadepaw

 **Warriors-** Russetpool – a long haired dark gray she-cat

Shadowpuddle – a blue-gray she-cat, apprentice, Graypaw

Waveclaw – a dark gray tom

Mousefoot – a brown tabby tom

Marshfall – a very dark gray tom, apprentice, Duskpaw

Dirtnose – a reddish tabby tom with green eyes

 **Apprentices-** Duskpaw – pale ginger tom with amber eyes

Jadepaw – a long-haired dark-gray she-cat with bright green eyes

Graypaw – a smoky black she-cat

 **Queens-** Wildflower – a pretty calico she-cat

RIVERCLAN

 **Leader-** Fallenstar – a large ginger she-cat

 **Deputy-** Brackenflood – dark brown and gray tabby tom, apprentice, Hailpaw

 **Medicine cat-** Skunklilly – a black and white tom

 **Warriors-** Streamflight – a silver gray she-cat, apprentice, Rosepaw

Clovertail – a pretty gray she-cat, apprentice, Mudpaw

Bonewing – a huge white tom

Brookfeather – a lithe black and white tom

Cedarbreeze – a dark ginger tom

Frostfur – a silver and white she-cat, apprentice, Shellpaw

 **Apprentices-** Hailpaw- a small calico she-cat

Mudpaw – a pale brown she-cat

Shellpaw – a gray tabby she-cat with yellow eyes

Rosepaw – a white and silver she-cat with blue eyes

 **Queens –** Ashwhisker – a black she-cat with white paws

It was a regular morning in the forest.

Three apprentices raced across the forest floor, laughing and scattering leaves. They were young, they'd only been made apprentices about a moon ago. The sun was barely rising in the forest and they were enjoying the freedom of the morning before their training started, their bellies already full of fresh-kill.

The biggest of the three, a round black tom named Blackpaw, was in the lead. "Race you to the lake!" He yowled to his friends as they charged through ThunderClan territory. "Last one there has to eat a dead adder!"

Behind him, orange-and-white Speckledpaw tried to match his pace, almost panting at the effort. And Rainpaw took up the rear, a small, black and white tom. His feet were already tired from running. He was smaller than his friends, and he knew he'd be the last one to the lake, and he didn't feel that much like getting there, anyway. He just didn't have the sort of zest his friends had.

So Rainpaw stopped running and sat down and licked some mud out of his pawpads. He could hear Blackpaw and Speckledpaw racing off to the lake, unaware he'd stopped following them. But that was okay. He could do his own thing for a while. His mentor, Sagewing, always pushed him to the limit, and then some, and he was always exhausted by the time training was over. There was no reason to tire himself out even more.

Suddenly, Rainpaw smelled a vole from the bushes next to him. He immediately dropped into a crouch. He had yet to make a successful kill. Speckledpaw and Blackpaw had already caught whole squirrels, but he couldn't even catch a mouse. He didn't know what was wrong with him. They always scented him and got scared off.

Rainpaw crouched and waited for the vole to come into view. He could hear it and smell it, rustling in the underbrush, but he couldn't see it. He had a bad feeling he was going to botch this. What was it about him! Sometimes, he wondered if he wasn't cut out for great things, or even to be a good warrior at all. And Sagewing always pushed him so hard because she knew he was incompetent. He was sure of it. And no matter how hard he tried, he still let her down.

The vole stepped out from the underbrush, unaware of him crouching nearby. Don't flick! He told his tail. Don't twitch! That was always his problem, he couldn't keep an ear from twitching or a whisker from wiggling. Not to mention how distracted he always got. Sagewing always told him how much patience hunting took, but Rainpaw had the worst patience in the world. He the attention span of a newborn kit. Anything that could distract him, would distract him.

Like, in that moment, a breeze picked up behind him, sending some dead leaves into the air over his head, and Rainpaw was suddenly overwhelmingly compelled to leap into the air and swat them down. StarClan, he was the worst apprentice…He squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to focus on the vole, imagining how proud Sagewing would be if she saw he'd made a kill while she'd still been back at camp.

The vole moved closer. Now was his chance! Rainpaw exploded from the covering of rich leaf-fall leaves with all the strength in his small, lithe body, amber eyes blazing. The vole was caught completely unaware, and it was locked in the spot where his paws would land, claws splayed.

Rainpaw's paws hit the ground, but the vole was gone. He couldn't believe it! Furious, he raised his head in time to see it disappearing into a well-concealed old rabbit den covered up by dead leaves. He charged after it. The vole's scent was everywhere, suffocating him.

He dug furiously at the dead leaves. He dug and dug. No! He kept thinking. No! I can't fail this time! I _had_ it! Soon, he was digging into the dirt of the den itself, getting dirt and mud all over his patchy black and white fur. But he dug anyway, possessed. Not this time! He even begged StarClan to help him catch the mouse brained vole that had somehow eluded him.

But then, he saw something else. At the heart of the den, his head and front paws and legs buried in darkness and dirt and leaves, came a blinding light. He couldn't tell where exactly it was coming from, but it was right ahead of him, so he continued to dig and push until he could fit farther into the den. The stench of the vole was overwhelming, but the blinding light was greater. He dug and dug, until he saw the source of the light.

It looked like it was coming from itself. It wasn't coming from anything at all, just a perfect prick of light floating above the dirt at the end of the den. It was brighter than any star or any moonlight or the sun at the middle of the day in the heat of Greenleaf.

Rainpaw stared. Then, he daringly stretched his paw forward, straight into the light until it became so bright his paw disappeared, and his mind flashed with white light and color and unfathomable images. His body shook and trembled and, suddenly, he was blasted backward out of the den, flew several tail-lengths into the air, and landed hard on his back.

He was totally stunned. He could hear Speckledpaw and Blackpaw calling his name. "Rainpaw!" "Rainpaw?" He tried to call back, but he was winded, and couldn't get his breath.

"Rainpaw?" The voices were closer. Blackpaw appeared in his peripheral vision, and behind him was Dewfrost, his mentor, and Speckledpaw and Sagewing too. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Rainpaw wheezed. At the sight of his mentor, he immediately made a valiant attempt at standing up, but he was obviously feeble and shaken up.

"What happened to you?" Sagewing asked, looking disdainfully at his dirty fur.

"I was chasing a vole," Rainpaw mewed. "And he went down the den."

"Is he still down there?" Blackpaw meowed eagerly, darting to the opening of the den and pushing his head in. "I can smell him."

"Don't-" Rainpaw tried to interject. Blackpaw dug himself deeper, and then popped out, shaking dirt off his muzzle.

"Huh." said Blackpaw. "I guess I missed him. Oh well."

"Did you see the light down there?" Rainpaw asked.

"What light?" Blackpaw asked, and Sagewing, Dewfrost and Speckledpaw all turned to stare at Rainpaw.

"Nevermind." He laughed. "Can we practice hunting today?"

"Of course!" Sagewing said, approaching Rainpaw. "Let's see your form. Give me a hunting crouch."

Rainpaw dropped into his hunting crouch. Everything felt right, but he knew it was somehow wrong, anyway. Sagewing corrected his haunches and his paws. "Sagewing," Rainpaw mewed sadly. "I don't think I'll ever make it as a hunter."

"That's not true!" She assured him. They started walking into the forest together, as Blackpaw and Speckledpaw took off another direction with Dewfrost. Sagewing's calico paws pattered gently over the forest floor. She was one of ThunderClan's greatest warriors. Her, and the noble deputy, Foxpelt, had taken on two badgers one particularly cold leaf-bare when almost every kit in the nursery had greencough. Rainpaw was so excited to have her as his mentor, even though he always felt like he was letting her down.

"You know it took Foxpelt almost three moons since his apprentice ceremony to finally catch something?" Sagewing asked, whiskers twitching. "And he's one of the best hunters in the Clan. You just have to believe in yourself."

"But what if I'm just not cut out for hunting? It's like there's something _wrong_ with me."

"There's nothing wrong with you. And if you aren't cut out for hunting, you're cut out for something else. Trust me, Rainpaw. You'll be a true hero someday!"

"Well, thanks…" Rainpaw wondered if he should tell his mentor about the light he saw in the rabbit den. But it was just too weird to explain. It probably didn't matter, anyway. Maybe some Twoleg rubbish had gotten in there. He didn't feel particularly scared, so there was no reason Sagewing should, either.

They reached the training hollow, where Blackpaw and Dewfrost and Speckledpaw and his mentor, Moonclaw, were already practicing hunting crouches.

"Okay, everyone," Sagewing said, "Go out and see what you can catch. Blackpaw, you try those rocks. Speckledpaw, see if you can try your paw over by those aspens, see if you can get another squirrel. Rainpaw, head over that ridge. The thickets down there will be full of mice this time of day, so pickings will be easy."

"Okay," said Rainpaw, secretly resenting having to be the one given the easy break in front of his friends, but also hoping maybe he could make up for his embarrassment with the vole earlier. This time, he _would_ get it right.

He skipped over the ridge toward the thicket, the training hollow disappearing behind him. He immediately caught a whiff of mouse. At least he had such a strong nose. That was something. He turned his head to locate the smell, and when he did…the world disappeared.

In the blink of an eye, the forest Rainpaw stood in was charred to bones. The trees, once growing rich and tall with their leaves turning orange and red and falling around him like snow, were blackened, barren skeletons, pointing toward the sky like jagged bones.

The forest floor beneath his paws was a bed of ash. All underbrush and thickets had been destroyed, there was no more grass or ferns or bushes. Just ash, pure ash, and the charred remains of greenery and tree branches. The air was completely silent. The sky overhead was a pure shade of dark gray. He couldn't smell smoke or see fire, but the forest was absolutely destroyed.

"Oh…oh no." Rainpaw mewled, his eyes so round they were stinging.

And just like that, the burnt forest was gone, and in its place was a huge lake, only, it was bigger than a lake, because the water went all around him in every direction as far as he could see. And then he started to sink as the ground disappeared under him, and he paddled desperately to stay afloat.

"H…Help!" Rainpaw cried, water going in his mouth.

The water disappeared again. He was back in the forest, the trees and bushes and leaves in full abundance, standing just before the ridge to the thickets with the mice. He turned around to return to the training hollow and tell someone what had happened. But when he reached it, through the trees, he saw something strange.

Blackpaw and Speckledpaw were present with Dewfrost and Moonclaw, sitting and listening to Sagewing, and when Rainpaw listened he could hear what she was saying.

"…see if you can get another squirrel. Rainpaw, head over that ridge. The thickets down there will be full of mice this time of day, so pickings will be easy."

Rainpaw stared. There was another cat, too, listening to Sagewing with his back to Rainpaw, who Rainpaw didn't recognize. But the more he stared, the more he realized who it was. The small black and white tom, sitting calmly and listening to Sagewing….it was Rainpaw.

The world blinked again. Now, Rainpaw was standing over the ridge, looking down at the thickets, his nose full of the smell of mice, exactly how he'd been before this all started. It had all taken maybe a few heartbeats at best. This time, he didn't move a muscle. There was only one thought in his mind.

 _Did I just travel through time?_

 **AN: Hi guys, this is my first story on fanfiction, and it's Warriors of course! Please tell me what you think…this story is going to be about a big adventure, so buckle your seatbelts! (Haha jk).**

 **~Delaney**


	2. Rosepaw

_The Land Between, Chapter Two_

"Psst. Look at her fur."

"Where?"

"Like, right there, on her neck."

"What about it?"

"Look at those stupid mats!"

"Ew!"

"Haha, poor thing can't even clean herself…"

Snickering.

"I bet she won't even notice they're there all day and she'll come to training like that."

The snickering grew significantly in volume.

"Let's not tell her anything, it'll be so funny when she finally realizes."

"Okay, yeah."

"She is _such_ a mopey wuss." One of the she-cat's voices grew in volume.

"Shh!" Hissed the other she-cat. "Don't wake her up, mouse-brain!"

"Are you kidding? Nothing could wake her up with that revolting snore of hers. Let's get going before we miss all the good fish."

"We should totally save the smallest one and put it out in the cold and then bring it to her as breakfast."

"That'd be _so_ funny. Let's do it."

The snickering and the shrill she-cat voices trailed out of the apprentice den. Rosepaw lay curled on her nest with her back toward where they'd disappeared.

It was very early in the morning, and the sun wasn't out yet. She could hear the two of them, her fellow apprentices, Hailpaw and Shellpaw, talking together while they picked through the fresh-kill pile. And then she could hear the voices of their mentors, and her mentor, Streamflight, join them, talking animatedly.

A shaft of light cut through the leaves of the apprentice den and hit her in the eye. Rosepaw frowned and squeezed them shut.

"Head start to the training hollow!" Hailpaw yelled to Shellpaw, and Rosepaw heard both of them take off running.

Any minute now, Streamflight would poke her head in to rouse her. And she wouldn't be sweet about it, either, she'd chastise her apprentice for being lazy and oversleeping and missing the dawn. But Rosepaw hadn't been sleeping…not really. It was hard to sleep a lot when three of your den mates made a hobby out of putting crowfood in your nest and whispered until moonhigh about how bad your paws smelled and how you couldn't keep food stains out of your white pelt.

"Rosepaw?" Streamflight's voice sounded very loud and very close. The branches of the apprentice den rustled as she entered and saw her apprentice curled small and docile on her nest. "Are you going to get up? Training's well underway. You missed breakfast."

"Yeah, one sec." Rosepaw mewed.

Streamflight left, and Rosepaw slowly, slowly pulled herself to a sitting position. She pawed at her neck to get rid of the some of the mats which were definitely there. Hailpaw hadn't been making that up. It was true that Rosepaw hadn't been grooming herself too well. There was a lot going wrong in her life lately.

But when the mats were clear, Rosepaw didn't stand up and leave the den. She could see the RiverClan camp bustling with the new day through the opening of the den. Brave warriors prowling about, mouths laden with fresh kill, brawny patrols preparing for another border scourge.

Maybe…maybe training wasn't worth it today. Maybe she could just skip. It wouldn't make much of a difference anyway. She'd only had her apprentice ceremony a moon ago, but she was already a pretty savvy hunter. She'd pass her assessment with decent marks and that was all that mattered. Honestly, training was the worst thing in the world for her.

Rosepaw finally pushed herself to emerge from the apprentice den. Cedarbreeze, the newest warrior up until a day or two ago, smiled and stopped what he was doing to head in her direction. "Morning, Rosepaw!" He called. "Late to rise this morning?"

"Yeah, like most mornings," she said. "Can't seem to get it together I guess! Haha. Oh well."

"There's that snark," Cedarbreeze purred, prancing around her as she made a slow journey toward the nursery. "Uh…I don't know what you're doing later, but would you wanna head out with me and see if we can catch something? Around sunset."

"Uh…"

"Come on, Rose. You need this. You'll be glad you did. And I miss hanging out with you!"

Rosepaw felt her whiskers curl up in a smile. "Okay, sure, why not."

Cedarbreeze beamed at her, and turned for the camp entrance, hitting her on the shoulder with his tail as he did. "See you later."

Rosepaw picked up her pace to the nursery and quietly, carefully pushed her way in, wary to be extra quiet because of the half-a-moon-old kits within. Their mother, Ashwhisker, the only current queen, lay on her side, silently nursing. She raised her head and twitched her whiskers in wordless acknowledgement at Rosepaw's entrance.

"Hi, Ashwhisker," Rosepaw whispered. "Hi, tinies." The tiny kits squirmed. Behind Ashwhisker, two much older kits snoozed idly. Both were nearly five moons old. When they heard Rosepaw, they both looked around and stood up in unison.

"Rosepaw!" Mewled the first, Snowkit, a pure white she-cat with bold blue eyes.

"Shh!" Rosepaw reminded her.

"Oops." Snowkit placed her paw over her mouth.

"Hi sis," Rosepaw said. "You doing okay?"

"I'm bored!" Snowkit insisted, struggling to keep her voice down.

"She's so cooped up," sighed the other kit, Icekit, another pure white she-cat with matching eyes. The two were twins, and it was hard to tell them apart. "The last moon is the worst! I'm ready to hunt something."

"I hope they're not being too much trouble, Ashwhisker…" Rosepaw said to the nursing queen. "I mean, I hope they're not being too loud. This one is especially bad…" She twitched her tail at Snowkit.

"They're doing great," Ashwhisker purred.

"Rosepaw, will you show us some cool hunting moves?" Icekit begged.

"I would, but I have to go to training…" Rosepaw sighed. "I'm already like a lifetime late."

"Knock that training out of the river!" Snowkit yelped, jumping up and down eagerly.

"Bye guys," Rosepaw mewed to her sisters, and she ducked out of the nursery. It always made her so sad to go in there. But she didn't have time to focus on that right now. She had to steel herself up for training.

She decided not to try and scarf down a mouse or something and be even more late to training, because she was already really pushing it as is. She was going to have quite the reception when she finally showed up. Yet still, she plodded slowly through the marsh toward the training hollow, dragging her paws, staring at the wet earth below her feet instead of gazing at the sunny day unfolding around her.

In the distance, she could hear the voices of Hailpaw and Shellpaw, and their mentors, and her mentor, Streamflight, having a blast with the other two apprentices even though Rosepaw wasn't even there. But that wasn't anything new.

Ugh. Was this even worth it? Hailpaw's shrill, confident voice carried far and seemed to penetrate Rosepaw's brain. She almost stopped and just went home, but the hollow grew silent as they caught a whiff of her scent, so she pushed herself on.

"There she is!" Hailpaw purred when Rosepaw appeared in the hollow. "All awake and frumpled and everything."

"Sorry I'm so late," Rosepaw deadpanned. "I was talking to Fallenstar about asking StarClan to find a way to make Hailpaw's voice less totally annoying."

"Shh, she-cats!" Brackenflood, Hailpaw's mentor and RiverClan deputy growled. "Keep those barbed tongues to yourselves."

"More like keep those barbed tongues to actually grooming yourself once in a blue moon," Shellpaw snickered under her breath. Hailpaw snickered too.

Brackenflood clearly didn't care enough about the situation to deal with it. "Well, Rosepaw, we were just showing these two ladies an introduction into catching fish, but you missed that, so you're going to have to catch up on your own. Everyone's going to go down to the river and give it a go. You ready, she-cats?"

Ugh. Rosepaw hated when he called them "she-cats" just because he was the only tom there. It was so demeaning. But it wasn't like she was going to give him a snarky response, because he was the deputy and all. Instead, she turned and stalked off to the river, giving herself a nice wide birth from Hailpaw and Shellpaw's obnoxious little clique.

She headed deep enough into RiverClan territory that she reached a portion of the river that was narrow and deep and the current strong. It would be harder to fish here, but she didn't really care. She didn't care about a lot of stuff anymore. All this dumb joshing and posturing the other apprentices did…who cared. Not her.

Rosepaw slipped into the water and it immediately submerged her up to her neck, which felt a little risky, but oh well, she was this far in now. No use going back. Didn't care.

The problem was she had no idea how to fish, and she'd missed the demonstration. She peered into the water for some fish. Nope. Nothing. She watched and waited. Nothing.

She decided to see if she could get a better look with her head underwater, so she took a huge breath and dipped it in until she was completely submerged in the water. Then, she opened her eyes.

Moss and river plants swayed delicately in the river's current. Dust and particles hung suspended in the silver water. Pebbles and slick, algae-coated stones lined the riverbed. Rosepaw loved being underwater, and this was why.

Almost directly under her nose, a tiny black fish flitted past. She instantly lashed out with her paw, and when she did, slipped entirely off the rock she stood on, lost her footing, and was swept, hard, downriver. She was so shocked she wasn't even sure what was happening, until she was thrown against an old, jutting log, sticking up out of the water. She slammed into it so hard her bones ached, and was thrown sideways into a murky hollow.

The water there was so full of mud and rot that she couldn't see anything. She flailed blindly. She was usually a pretty strong swimmer, but the mud was so dense it was difficult to move. And while she was struggling there, fighting and fighting for air, an enormous flash of light seemed to burn straight through the heavy murk, blinding her and clearing the water, and Rosepaw kicked backward as hard as she could to avoid it, but the light remained, brighter and brighter until it seemed to stab her in the eyes and her brain flashed with white and black and vivid images she couldn't make out.

Abruptly, she found her head above water, floating slowly down a mellower part of the river. She instantly made a break for land, pulling her soaked body out of the river onto a grassy knoll. She lay on her side, furiously licking the water off of her white and silver pelt.

And then, laughing.

Hailpaw's shrill voice behind her, laughing hysterically, and Shellpaw joining in, too. Rosepaw leaped to her feet.

"I don't think I've ever seen someone fail more at catching the tiniest fish in the forest than that!" Hailpaw cried. Her one paw was wet. before her lay a large, freshly killed fish. "Oh wow! Wow!"

"Are you even a RiverClan cat?" Shellpaw giggled. "Because you looked like a drowning bear or something."

"It was so funny, Rosepaw, you won't believe it," Hailpaw laughed, coming closer. "We were just hunting all normal when this enormous hulking thing is just swept past us. I thought it was, like, an obese badger or something! But then we realized it was just you. Oh it was so funny, you should have seen it!"

"Shut up!" Rosepaw snapped. "God, you are such a piece of filth! Both of you!" She spun on her tail and started running as fast as she could toward camp.

"Run to momma!" Hailpaw called after her, and Shellpaw called, "Mommy! Mommy! Nobody likes meeeee!" And their cackles followed her all the way to the RiverClan camp.

Rosepaw didn't enter the camp, however. She stopped outside, and sat heavily down on the soft grass bordering the entrance, and got so overwhelmed by sadness she had to hold her breath. Her fur was all wet and she was freezing, even though it was barely leaf-fall.

Why was everything so awful? She rose to her feet again, only because cats would be coming in and out of the entrance at any time and she didn't want to have to talk to anyone. She traveled the perimeter of the camp, keeping low in the tall grass, until she came upon the gravesites of the Clan's fallen warriors.

She picked between them, some so old and overgrown they barely seemed like graves anymore, completely reclaimed by the earth. She liked the idea that when she died, and when the cats she cared about died, eventually they'd just go back to the earth and not even exist anymore.

At the edge of the shady little hollow, one grave was still freshly turned, no new growth on the soil yet. It'd been marked with a few round, pretty stones, and a smattering of flowers, some withered and died, and some as fresh as yesterday.

Rosepaw sat slowly before the grave and dipped her head and squeezed her eyes shut because she was so full of sadness.

"Hi, mom." She whispered.

The grave stared back cold and still.

Rosepaw felt her eyes fill up with tears. "Why is everything so awful?"

Rosepaw's mother, Pebbleshade, had died a moon ago from blackcough. Well, that's what Skunklily, the medicine cat, had ruled it as, even though she never had a cough at all. She was in pain for some unknown reason, and just got weaker and weaker, and frailer and frailer, and then she started to become confused and delirious, and Ashwhisker took over the caring of her two kits and Rosepaw's younger sisters, Snowkit and Icekit, and a few days later, Pebbleshade passed. Nobody understood it, certainly not Rosepaw.

It was just a strange, confusing, freaky thing that made no sense and wasn't fair at all.

Rosepaw would have stayed longer – she would have stayed half the day, but she was overwhelmed with nausea all of a sudden and had to leave. She felt worse and worse even in the short walk to the camp. She ran to a thicket to throw up, but it never came, and just like that, the nausea was gone, and she walked into camp perfectly fine.

Cedarbreeze was having lunch at the fresh-kill pile. She made a line toward him. "Hi," she purred, as she approached and came to a stop, but he didn't look up at her.

"Hey, Cedarbreeze," she said.

He continued to busily chomp away at his fish.

"Cedarbreeze?" Rosepaw poked him with her tail. "Hello…"

Was Cedarbreeze somehow in on some stupid prank with Hailpaw and Shellpaw now? Like, pretending she didn't exist? No, that was impossible…Cedarbreeze had been one of her earliest friends and he had barely anything to do with those two awful apprentices. Whatever. She'd try him again later. Cat sure loved his fresh-kill.

At the camp entrance, Streamflight appeared with Brackenflood. Streamflight looked annoyed. Rosepaw approached her quickly, self-consciously grooming down her wet, rumpled fur. "Hey, Streamflight, I'm really sorry, I fell in the river and I just decided to head back and get cleaned up."

Streamflight said nothing. She pushed straight past Rosepaw – almost into her – toward the warrior cat den with Brackenflood in tow.

"Hey, I said I'm sorry," Rosepaw mewed after her, but Streamflight didn't turn around. She disappeared into the den with Brackenflood.

Rosepaw stared after them. What in StarClan was going on? She looked back at Cedarbreeze, still eating. "Cedarbreeze!" She yowled. "Hey!" And yet, he didn't even bat an eye. The camp was full of cats, but nobody had acknowledged her yowling. _Was_ this a sick joke? "HEY!" she cried. "CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME?"

Again, nothing. It was almost like she didn't even exist.

Rosepaw scrambled out of the camp as fast as her shaking paws could carry her. She raced to the nearest marsh, just a few fox-lengths out of camp. She stumbled to the edge and leaned as far as she could to stare at her reflection in the surface of the water.

But there wasn't anything there.


	3. Skip

_The Land Between, Chapter Three_

"Guess what. Guess what. Guess what!"

Blackpaw barreled across the camp, literally skidding sand as he came to a stop where Rainpaw was nibbling away at a bird. It was old and tasted stale.

"What," Rainpaw mumbled.

"Gathering, you, me, tonight." Blackpaw bounced from paw to paw in front of him. "I did it, I asked, and we're both going!"

"Yay," said Rainpaw.

"Oh, come on." Blackpaw rolled his eyes. "If your first Gathering won't make you stop moping then nothing will. Seriously, this is getting annoying!"

"I'm not moping, I just have a lot on my mind," Rainpaw sighed. "I've had a weird couple of days."

"Is this because you still haven't caught anything? I'm telling you, you're gonna have a lucky break one of these days. Just keep at it."

"No, it's not that…although, yeah, that does suck, I mean, our first assessment is in like an hour and I'm definitely not going to be able to catch anything."

"Well if you talk like that you won't." Blackpaw scooted from side to side. "Well, I'm off to the training hollow to get warmed up! See you there, Rainpaw!" And he rushed out of ThunderClan camp.

Rainpaw pushed the bird away from him and made a face of displeasure. He shouldn't even be eating technically, considering he could provide nothing for his Clan. He stood up and followed Blackpaw through the thorn barrier and out of camp.

He was worried about his training assessment, that was true. But more than that, he was worried about something else. Like the really big problem he had where he kept jumping around in time. It'd been happening more and more frequently since the day he found the light in the old rabbit den, and now it happened almost all the time.

As he walked calmly across the forest floor, the forest blinked and changed. It was cold. The earth was frozen solid under his paws, and the trees had lost their leaves, although he didn't see any snow. He heard voices, and froze, ducked, and hid - there were cats heading his way, and fast. Tail lengths behind him, a hardened golden brown tabby tom charged over the fallen log at the edge of the clearing where they trained, and a minute after, a smaller black she-cat skidded underneath, barely a tail-length from where Rainpaw stood behind a tree.

There were a bunch of cats in the clearing, like five or six. A smaller ginger tom stepped forward to greet the black one. "What are you doing here, Hollypaw?"

"Meet my new apprentice," meowed the hardened gold tom Rainpaw had seen first.

"That's great!" the ginger tom flicked his tail.

Who _are_ these cats? Rainpaw wondered, in complete bewilderment. They sure seemed like they had a lot going on. None of these scents were familiar at all. This was a long time ago. The trees around him were younger and smaller, the thickets less dense than he was used to. And just like that, it was gone, and he was back to the present.

"I've got to get this under control," Rainpaw hissed aloud. He had a big assessment in a minute. He was already bad enough at hunting, and it wasn't going to help if Sagewing saw him teleport a million sweeps into the future all of a sudden. He slipped underneath a fern bush.

He had been trying to manage it. The time skips were alarming, if not terrifying most of the time. One time, he transported to an apprentice den in the past with a bunch of apprentices he didn't know, in a camp full of cats he'd never met. And one of the apprentices woke up and completely freaked out because she had no idea who he was.

And then he blinked out before he could explain, but that was probably a good thing, because Rainpaw had a dark feeling that if he stood there explaining for a while he could screw something up in the past and cause some sort of horrible time paradox in the future. This was a serious ability he had. He really had to be careful.

He was a cat with a poor attention span, poor focus, and a generally inquisitive and bumbling demeanor that wasn't great for pairing up with great responsibility. That's why he was so freaked out.

So he closed his eyes as tightly as he could, and started taking deep breaths, enough until he felt relaxed and almost sleepy. He lay flat on his belly with his fur flush against the ground. He bent his paws to touch them to the sides of his head, and focused on the pressure that caused.

Rainpaw focused, with all his might, on his breakfast that morning. The cold bird. The stuffy feathers. The meatless bones. Oh, it was gross! How could he forget. He focused on the chilly sand under him when he sat down to eat, on how the hollow bones felt stale as they snapped under his teeth. The guilt he felt eating when he hadn't provided his share. And then, of course, Blackpaw's bumbling footsteps, dancing across the camp toward him… _Guess what. Guess what. Guess what._

Rainpaw opened his eyes. He was sitting behind the apprentice den, concealed by thickets. A fox length away, there he sat eating an old bird, picking away at it with utter distaste. His past-self, that was. Round little head and blotches of black on smudgy white fur. Jeez. Not exactly the way he wanted to think of himself, but whatever.

"I did it!" He hissed aloud, and then immediately cut himself off. It sure wouldn't be great if his past self turned around and saw his future self sitting there watching him like a creep. StarClan…this sure was confusing.

"Guess what. Guess what. Guess what." Blackpaw came bounding across the camp toward Rainpaw's past self.

"What."

"Gathering, you, me, tonight." Blackpaw bounced from paw to paw in front of him.

"Hehe, Blackpaw is such a goof," Rainpaw giggled to himself. As goofy as Blackpaw was, he didn't need to watch his friend labor on and on about it for the second time, so he closed his eyes, and breathed and focused, and jumped back to where he'd been a second ago, lying on his belly outside the training hollow.

Behind him, Sagewing was approaching with Dewfrost and Moonclaw, Speckledpaw in tow. Blackpaw was already waiting in the clearing. Rainpaw dashed eagerly to catch up.

"Is today going to be your big day, Rainpaw?" Sagewing purred.

"Yeah, hopefully!" Rainpaw mewed. As long as this time shenanigan nonsense doesn't wreck everything, he thought.

The mentors sent each apprentice out on a respective quest. Rainpaw was sent to the Sky Oak to see what he could sniff out. As he raced out of the clearing, he thought about the warriors from the past he'd seen in the same clearing a little while ago. For a moment, he had been there, he'd been a part of their world, just like any of them. He wondered if any of them had been such crappy apprentices.

There was the pungent scent of squirrel at the Sky Oak. Rainpaw caught it instantly. And it wasn't being careful, either, it was racing up and down the bark, gathering seeds and nuts. It's belly was swollen with food. Huh. This was almost too easy. Now this was the sort of lucky break he needed.

Knowing Sagewing was watching him, Rainpaw drew into a crouch, and waited quite a while for the squirrel to move closer. Completely unaware, too busy on its own scrounge for food, it danced almost between his paws. And when the time was right, the pounce was easy.

Even still, the squirrel darted away from him, panicked by the sudden movement. But Rainpaw was quicker. He pounced after it, darting around the oak, but when his paws landed, and his claws sunk into the flesh of the squirrel, he blinked out again.

Only he barely blinked at all. He was in the same place, the Sky Oak. No squirrel, though. He whipped around at the loudest cracking, thundering sound he'd ever heard. An enormous crack had appeared in the earth behind him, and a jagged edge rose straight from the ground, showering dirt and roots and pieces of soil. The crack extended as far as Rainpaw could make out.

He tripped over his paws trying to back away from it, but on the other side of the Sky Oak, a similar crack suddenly appeared, ripping through the forest floor with a thunderclap, shredding it like it was made of kitten fluff. Rainpaw yowled for help. "Sagewing!" He shrieked. "Help!"

But Sagewing wasn't here. Why would she be? This wasn't that timeline anymore. He was in the past. Or the future? The future? Rainpaw gaped. Was this the _future?!_

Rainpaw ran for his life, as the forest destroyed itself around him. And he just couldn't wrap his head around it: _was_ this the future? And the burned forest, the drowned planet, was that the future too? Was any of this real?

"StarClan…help!" He whimpered, his paws scrabbling as the ground in front of him shattered and split, shaking violently, and for a moment, an enormous chasm appeared before him, like a stab wound straight into the black Earth's core. He backpaddled as fast as he could, tripped, and went rolling down one sloping precipice before he swung, caught himself with his claws, and pulled himself upright, cowering at the cliff-side opening of yet another gaping, desolate chasm.

"H…" He mewled, trying to say "Help", but he couldn't. The horror was too profound. He raised his head. A fox length away, a cat stood on the opposite edge of the chasm, stood calm and confident at the ledge. She didn't seem rattled at all, her ears and whiskers were alert, her long black fur smooth and even, her bright green eyes round and alert.

Her whiskers curled in a wide smile and waved her tail at Rainpaw in an energetic greeting.

"Uh." said Rainpaw.

The ground beneath him splintered again, the cliff side he held to was thrust into the air, jostling Rainpaw off, who twisted dramatically, and went tumbling into the chasm beside it. He squeezed his eyes shut as hard as he could and pictured the training hollow in as much realism as he could muster.

And then he hit the ground, heavily but not hard, and when he opened his eyes, the calm, twinkling trees of the training hollow surrounded him.

He was woozy and dizzy. He didn't know what time it was. Literally, he had no idea if he'd made it back to the present or not. So he just made a break for the camp. Who cared about the assessment anyway. It wasn't like he was actually going to catch anything. And this thing…this thing was too much. This time-zappy-travely-whatever thing was trumping anything else in his life right now. And that was no good.

Rainpaw got back to camp and immediately got a mouse to try and get some food in his belly, because he felt so woozy from what had happened. And then, without really meaning to, he fell asleep in the den and slept for almost the rest of the day, because the next thing he knew Blackpaw was poking his flank to rouse him.

"Psst." He was saying. "Rainpaw. You're gonna miss the Gathering."

"Huh…" Rainpaw swam out of a bleak sleep. "Blackpaw…what's going on?"

"You totally botched the assessment, Rainy," Blackpaw said. "Sagewing was pretty annoyed."

"What'd I do?"

"She said you just quit in the middle of hunting a squirrel, like she had no idea where you went. You went around the Sky Oak and she couldn't find you. She figured you got so frustrated you just quit and came home for a nap. So…yeah, your marks are pretty bad. Hate to break it to you."

"Ugh." Rainpaw sighed. "I can't hear this right now."

"…are you okay?" Blackpaw peered at him cautiously.

"Blackpaw," Rainpaw sighed. "I think there's something wrong with me."

"Well, yeah, you've got the attention span of a louse, if that's what you mean."

"No, for real." Rainpaw sat up and leaned closer. "I think that I can…time travel?"

"What's that?"

"Well, I don't know, not for sure, but I think I somehow got this insane ability to, like, jump around in time a whole bunch? I've seen some really wild stuff, Blackpaw. Like our ancestors, and the forest before cats ever came here, and our parents when they were little, and stuff. And that's all…well, that's all kind of neat, actually, but I don't know how to control it. I can't do _anything_ anymore without being teleported to StarClan-knows-when, and I don't know why, or what I'm supposed to do there, or what's happening to me." His voice became a whisper.

"Huh." said Blackpaw. "No offense, Rainpaw, but that sounds really far-fetched!"

"I know right!" Rainpaw stood up fully. "I know! That's what's so crazy about it! But the thing is…every time I go into the future, even the really near future, I see some really awful stuff! Like the forest being just ripped apart, or I keep seeing this spooky dead ghost forest where everything was just burnt to the ground, and I think that might be the future of the Clans or something!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! I mean, it's the future! If the past shows our past, then why wouldn't the future be our _literal future?_ And it's not like a big battle or something, I mean, it's like the entire Earth is destroyed! Shredded! Torn to pieces!"

"Whoa, okay," said Blackpaw. "Listen, Rainpaw, are you sure you haven't been, maybe, getting your paws on a few of Duskflight's…funnier…herbs?"

"What, no! Blackpaw, you have to believe me! I mean this could be really serious! This could be the end of the Clans or something! Or the _world!_ I have to do something, but I don't know what! Heck, I can't even catch the fattest squirrel in the stupid forest!"

"Okay, calm down." Blackpaw said.

"I can't! I've been keeping this quiet for almost three days now, but I have to tell someone because _someon_ e needs to do _something_. Like, today, I totally botched my assessment because I was about to catch this squirrel when I was jumped into the future – but I don't think it was that far in the future, that's what's so scary! I was there, running for my life, and I saw this mysterious cat who _waved_ at me, and she was kind of pretty, but I don't even know who she was or why she was there! Blackpaw! What do I doooo?!"

"I'll tell you what you do," Blackpaw purred. "You nab the fattest squirrel on that fresh-kill pile right over there, stuff your fat gut, and then come to your first ever Gathering with your best friend."

"…"

"Yeah? Yeah?" Blackpaw leaped to his feet and bounced out of the den. "Gathering, Gathering!" He hooted.

"Wait, Blackpaw, you believe me right?!" Rainpaw streaked after him. "You gotta say you believe me."

"Yeah sure, I believe you." Blackpaw pawed through the fresh-kill pile. He nudged an enormous vole. "You want half?"

Rainpaw sighed and rolled his eyes. "I'm going to take a walk."

Rainpaw headed for the thorn barrier and lunged out of camp. It was a red, swarthy sunset. The clouds were bright orange with the end of the sunlight. This thing of his was nothing but trouble, plain and simple. He was never going to make his first kill if he kept letting it jump him around in time. He was never going to be a half-decent apprentice. He would never last in a battle. This…it just wasn't he needed right now.

He began to think very hard. The time skipping had started when he found that weird light in the rabbit den. He sure remembered that moment. And if life was crappy now, and it was a whole lot better before he found that stupid light, then maybe what he should do is use the time powers to go back in time to that moment, and make it so he never found the light in the first place.

It was genius. He should have thought of it earlier! He could go back and change anything he wanted! He'd go back in time, stop himself from hunting the vole that lead him to the light, then jump back to the present, and let the power just sort of fade away. And he'd go on like he was supposed to, like nothing ever happened.

Rainpaw closed his eyes. It didn't take long this time. He pictured that fateful morning near the training hollow, when he'd decided to try his paw at the vole, and instantly, he was there. The sunlight was bright on the trees. The forest was quiet. Everything was the same.

He took a moment to get his bearings. Yeah. He could hear Blackpaw and Speckledpaw racing side-by-side to the lake, and there his past self was, sprinting after his friends, keeping up a runty rear.

He had to do something, and quick. Rainpaw looked back and forth, and inhaled the air. He could smell the same vole he'd smelled that morning. It was somewhere near here.

Bravely, Rainpaw darted to the underbrush where he'd found it, neighboring the old rabbit den, and rolled all over the ground, knocking leaves and twigs everywhere, loudly kicking things about. His past self could never chase that vole into the rabbit den if the vole had already been scared off! Honestly, he was a genius, probably.

Rainpaw ran out of sight, in time to watch the three toms race past, and then his past self come to a stop and sit to lick mud out of his pawpads.

"Jeez," Rainpaw mumbled to himself. "I look really fat. No wonder I can't catch anything. Eugh. Why are cats being so nice and not telling me how ugly I am? Just saying."

Rainpaw's past self suddenly lifted his muzzle to scent the air. Rainpaw felt his heart grow cold. Was he smelling the vole after all? But then his past self's expression grew befuddled and confused, and he sniffed noisily at the air around him.

What on earth was he smelling? But then Rainpaw realized. He was smelling _him_. His past self was smelling the scent that Rainpaw had just spread everywhere. Oh. Huh. Maybe like a little mini time paradox? His past self smelling his future self…Maybe not so genius after all.

But then, his past self idly rose to his paws, and strolled off to the training hollow, toward the voices of his friends and the mentors, and the rabbit den and mysterious light lay untouched.

That wasn't so hard. Rainpaw closed his eyes and returned to the present, to the sunset forest.

He felt totally fine. So maybe everything had worked out. The time nonsense was gone. He turned to return to camp.

On his way back, he almost ran into Lightstar and Foxpelt charging out of camp, leading a whole squad of cats behind them. The Gathering! Rainpaw almost forgot. Rainpaw climbed to one side of the camp to watch them all sidle past from above, seeing if he could spot Blackpaw and join up with him as he passed.

There he was, bouncing toward the thorn barrier, talking animatedly with…

Oh.

Blackpaw was talking to him.

To some other version of Rainpaw, that appeared perfectly content to stroll out of camp beside Blackpaw, on the way to their first Gathering.

But…

It didn't make sense. Rainpaw scrambled down to the forest floor to keep after them, but something in his gut told him to keep his distance. There was already a Rainpaw up there, flanking Blackpaw and Speckledpaw, and yet, there was a Rainpaw back here too, he, him, the Rainpaw he was, and knew.

What happened? He'd thought that when he'd altered the past, making it so that he never discovered his time powers in the first place, the effects could carry through to him, now, and he'd lose his powers.

Rainpaw closed his eyes, imagining himself standing on the edge of camp like he'd been a moment ago. When he opened his eyes, there he was again, watching himself watch the Clan leave for the gathering.

He immediately returned to the present. He trailed distantly after his Clan, feeling sick.

"What have I done?" he whispered.

 **AN: Wow, great work Rainpaw, you really pulled that off. Did anyone catch the The Sight reference up there, when Rainpaw goes back in time? I kind of imagine The Land Between to be set several generations in the future from the books. Anyway, please let me know what you think so far! Who do you think the waving cat was (or will be ;3)? What will happen to Rainpaw vs. the Rainpaw he saw leaving with Blackpaw? Reviews are appreciated! Thanks!**

 **~Delaney**


	4. Witness

_The Land Between, Chapter Four_

Rosepaw watched the sun set alone from atop one of the trees by the RiverClan camp.

Well, being alone was nothing new. She'd basically been alone every day since her mother died and everyone started treating her like she had mental issues for experiencing prolonged sadness about it. Her father had died in battle when she was really little, too, so this was kind of it for her.

But today was a new sort of alone. She'd taken a mouse up into the tree with her, eaten it, and flicked the bits she didn't want into the camp where her Clanmates were. Now her tail hung off her branch perch, flicking back and forth as she surveyed the surly sun sinking orange into the lake.

It really seemed like the last couple days had been a whole lot of nothing to do anymore. A whole lot of sitting in trees and on riverbanks and looking around at the insufferably neutral weather.

But maybe that was just what it was like when you were dead.

Her Clanmates were preparing for a Gathering. There was hushed excitement throughout the Clan, and they were slowly gathering near the camp entrance. As Rosepaw watched distantly from her vantage point, she saw Snowkit and Icekit bounce out of the nursery for a minute, Ashwhisker in tow.

"You think maybe she'll show up at the gathering?" Snowkit mewed to Ashwhisker, her big blue eyes round. "Like maybe she'll be there?"

"Maybe, sweetheart," Ashwhisker mumbled.

"I don't understand why you won't let us go look for her," Icekit begged. "We won't even go far, please!"

"Kits." Ashwhisker said. "You have to leave the searching to the warriors. They'll find her."

"But Bonewing said they already looked all over the territory, and around Twolegplace, too!" Snowkit complained. "Why haven't they found her yet?!"

"I..." Ashwhisker was out of words. "Snowkit, it'll be okay."

"No!" Snowkit spat. "No, it won't! You're trying to lie to me to make me feel better, and it's not working! I want Rosepaw!"

Rosepaw turned her head away so she didn't have to see, but she could still hear Snowkit's cries, so she climbed down and jumped into camp and went to her distraught sister's side. She'd stormed across camp and sat with her tail tucked around her paws, short of breath and growling and huffing at the ground, her face heavy with grief.

"It's okay, little sis." Rosepaw whispered, pressing up against her sister and closing her eyes at the warmth of her fur.

But Snowkit didn't notice her whatsoever.

"I'm just…" Rosepaw mumbled anyway. "I think I'm dead."

Snowkit gazed sadly at the sand before her paws.

"I'm sorry, Snowkit."

That moment, Fallenstar emerged discreetly from the warriors den, in hushed conversation with Brackenflood. Most of the Clan had gathered in the camp now, and volume was mounting. Fallenstar lifted her head, and then hopped onto one of the big, round stones near the den.

"Excuse me," she called. It was a strange way to address the Clan. Her voice was hushed and grim. "Excuse me, please, can all cats gather out here for a moment before we leave."

The remaining Clan members poked out of their dens and crept toward her.

"Everyone," Fallenstar mewed. "Brackenflood and I have come to the decision that we will mention Rosepaw's disappearance at tonight's Gathering. Our patrols have exhausted even our farthest borders with no sign whatsoever, and her most recent scent still being at the graveyard three days ago."

The entire throng of cats grew deathly silent.

"We will inquire as to whether or not our neighboring Clans have any information." Fallenstar looked between each gaze. "We are not a Clan that takes the disappearance of a young apprentice lightly. This is distressing and alarming, to say the least. We will exhaust all efforts to find her and bring her home safe, and we will not stop until we do."

A couple cats murmured. Fallenstar dipped her head. "Now, it is time for the Gathering. Brackenflood, lead the way."

The cats shifted toward the entrance. At the edge of the group, Hailpaw and Shellpaw were talking in fast, frantic voices near the apprentice den.

"I'm telling you, I knew something like this would happen!" Shellpaw was hissing.

"Shh! Just keep your voice down about it, okay?" Hailpaw flicked her tail back and forth. "They _will_ find her, and she _will_ be fine, and it won't even be a thing. I'm still like ninety percent positive she ran away for attention."

"Yeah, maybe," Shellpaw mewed. They headed after the rest of the cats, lingering anxiously at the edge of the group. "I mean that seems like the kind of thing she'd do. But I have a really weird feeling, I don't know."

"Why? Who even cares."

"Do you think she did herself in?" Shellpaw whispered.

 _"What?"_ Hailpaw stopped and rounded on her.

"Do you think she, like, tried to take own life?"  
"What? What are you _talking_ about? You're so stupid! Just shut up! She's fine! Just shut _up!_ " Hailpaw spun around, swatting Shellpaw with her tail, and started bounding after the rest of the Clan. "Move your fat paws, you stupid piece of crowfood! Ugh, you're so _stupid!"_

Shellpaw scrambled after her, and Rosepaw was wordless watching them leave, absolutely aghast at such a depressing interaction between two 'friends'. StarClan, Rosepaw would rather have the no friends she did have than be trapped in a friendship like _that._

She sure loved the idea of her Clanmates thinking she'd do something as unthinkable as taking her own life. Yeah, that felt great. What a relief. It was already bad enough watching them slowly worry more and more about her.

It was like everyone was depressed, even the cats who didn't like her so much, which was a good portion of the Clan. Rosepaw really had always believed she was pretty forgettable, but it was like the whole Clan was rocked and disturbed by her suddenly vanishing. But maybe it was like that when any especially young cat died all of a sudden.

Because she was dead.

Yeah.

Snowkit and Icekit were sadly watching the Clan leave. Ashwhisker had retreated to the nursery to nurse her kits. Then Icekit leaned sideways, pressing the side of her face into Snowkit's chest, their white fur mixing together until they almost looked like one cat.

"She's dead," Icekit muttered.

"No, you can't think like that," Snowkit said. "This isn't like with mom. Rosepaw won't ever leave us."

Icekit slowly and sadly shook her head, resting against Snowkit's pelt. "Dead or not," she mewed. "She's not coming back."

Rosepaw rose quickly to her paws and headed straight for the camp entrance, so full of sadness she felt like she could break in half. She felt compelled to go sit at her mother's graveside, but even that she didn't have in her.

All the energy she had was to wander, slowly, aimlessly, in the direction of the lake. Her paws moved without her even controlling them. She hung her head.

She didn't know what she'd done wrong to deserve this.

She'd clearly died somehow, because she clearly didn't exist anymore. That's what had happened. When she looked down at her paws, her body was as visible and solid as it had ever been, but nobody could see her. When she spoke, her voice was clearly audible, but nobody could hear her. When she marked her scent, she could smell herself, but nobody else could. When she brushed her pelt against things, she felt them, but the things didn't feel her.

She'd always believed StarClan would come for her when she died. But obviously, they hadn't. She hadn't even been given a sign of StarClan even _existing._ It was just her now, left to wander empty and invisible throughout the forest all alone while her Clan worried about her, until a few moons had passed and they'd moved on and she was a scribbled afterthought on a plane of already-dried mud.

If anything, maybe Hailpaw and Shellpaw were right. Maybe she had done the unthinkable, and died, and it was so bad StarClan had shunned her from their ranks, and now she was just waiting on the Dark Forest to take her. And it had been so unthinkable she couldn't even remember her own death. Because as far as she was aware, nothing had ever happened.

Rosepaw walked and walked.

She reached the WindClan border, and the scent markers were especially pungent, and she strolled through like she couldn't even smell them. Yeah, all these cats getting their fur in a mat over border demarcations and meaningless stuff like that. None of that mattered anymore, not really.

Closer toward the lake, she saw a parade of cats hustling to the island for the Gathering. ThunderClan and WindClan. They were all worked up about stuff. Some border patrol had turned into a skirmish or something. Whatever. Who cared.

The sun went down behind her. Rosepaw kept walking. A small grouping of prickly, hostile WindClan cats rushed toward ThunderClan's throng, all worked up. Oh yeah. She almost forgot that ThunderClan and WindClan had been disputing over prey for moons now. How about that! Too bad none of that mattered anymore.

The small group of WindClan cats almost knocked her over in their haste to rush past. One cat seemed to move right through her. He probably _did_ move right through her, because she was dead, and it would make sense.

Rosepaw wandered all the way to the ThunderClan border. The scent markets here were so strong they almost knocked her over backward. These cats sure thought this stuff was important. Huh. Oh well!

ThunderClan territory was warm and dark. All these Clans had really nice territory! Of course, the rivers and marshes were still the best, but she had to hand it to ThunderClan for choosing these nice old trees and stuff. She walked calm as could be, loudly cracking over the twigs and underbrush because she didn't care.

She caught a whiff of cats, and approached to see the tail end of ThunderClan's Gathering party tramping through the forest, a few eager, energetic apprentices pulling up the rear. She sat idly beside a tree to watch them pass. Maybe apprentices in ThunderClan would like her more than the apprentices in RiverClan did. Too bad she was dead now, and would never be able to entertain that outlandish idea.

The cats disappeared into the dark trees, their happy voices fading away. Not long after, Rosepaw heard the approach of messy footsteps pattering swiftly over the leaves behind her, and she turned around just in time to see a cat smash right into her, knock her on her side, trip, flip over her body, and go skidding across the forest floor.

He picked himself unsteadily to his feet and looked back at her. "Oh, sorry," he mewed. He was small and fairly round with a patchy black and white pelt, sporting bright amber eyes even in the darkness. He shook dirt off two of his paws, gave her another look, and then continued padding swiftly after where ThunderClan had disappeared.

Rosepaw lay on her side, watching his black and white fur draw into the darkness with her mouth agape, totally unable to move.

And then, as if on a cue, she rose swiftly to her feet and padded after the tom's vanishing form, and as she did, she broke into a run until she was sprinting as fast as her paws could carry her.

 **I love writing Rosepaw. I think she comes the most natural to me so far. She's such a dark, moody contrast to Rainpaw lol, and she's dramatic, which is fun. Next chapter we meet our third hero! Look out!**

 **Also, I changed the summary…hated it. Not sure about this one either. It's a work in progress. Lol. Reviews, as usual, are appreciated! I'm not sure how people are liking this :P…Predictions? Thoughts? Pointers? Thanks!**

 **~Delaney**


	5. Smokepaw

_The Land Between, Chapter Five_

The ShadowClan morning was misty and creepy. The forest was empty. A young tom lounged idly in the middle of a frosty clearing.

He really wasn't doing a lot. At one point, he flicked his long, russet tail in a slow bounce across the pine needles, and raised his paw for a lick. When he exhaled into the air, he could see his breath, just a little, silver curl.

Out in the skinny pine trees to his left, far enough away to be seen but close enough to be heard, a tom yowled a howl of frustration, and then the sound of running paws approached, and an enormous ginger tom exploded into the clearing, spraying pine needles.

"Mousedung!" He spat. "Stupid, nasty, rotten, mouse-brained squirrels!" He kicked his paws all over until he'd worn his tantrum out. He looked up at the sitting apprentice. "Did you catch something already, Smokepaw?"

"Nope."

"Aw, you missed too?" The ginger cat, Gingerpaw, roughly shook stray needles from his pelt.

"Nope."

"Well, then what?" He sighed. "Are you gonna give me more than one word here?"  
"Nah." Said Smokepaw.

"Is that all you can say?"

"You keep asking yes or no questions. I'm just…kind of reflecting back what you're giving me."

Gingerpaw sighed and rolled his eyes hugely. "So, what, you don't want to hunt with us before training?"

"Nah."

"What does Snakefur even have you doing, anyway?"

"Not hunting, most of the time," Smokepaw mumbled.

Behind them, soft pawsteps approached, and another apprentice, Thornpaw, entered the clearing, this one a dark tabby. She held an enormous squirrel proudly in her maw, and dropped it gently between the two toms' paws.

"Whoa! You caught this?" Gingerpaw guffawed, poking it with his paw. "Darn!"

"Nice," remarked Smokepaw.

"Yep," She purred. "It wasn't even that hard either."

"No wonder I couldn't catch anything," Gingerpaw meowed. "This was probably the only squirrel in ShadowClan territory and it went to you because you're small and lithe and everything…"

"I think you were scaring them all off with you yowling," Thornpaw mewed. "Has anyone heard from the mentors yet? I want Greenwhisker to see the squirrel."

"Ahahaha are you just going to leave it here until our mentors arrive?" Smokepaw looked down at the squirrel. "Don't you want to take it to back to camp before it gets all nasty and hardened over out here in the cold?"

Thornpaw flicked her tail and didn't reply.

"Gingerpaw…stalks the flighty squirrel," Gingerpaw narrated, drawing into a crouch, tail lashing as he prowled toward the dead squirrel at Smokepaw's paws. "He sneaks across the ground, stealthy as a raven…his prowl revered by cats of all Clans…"

"Your rump is so high in the air StarClan's gonna start sending their remarks," said Smokepaw, and Thornpaw made a _snrk!_ sound in her throat.

"…Gingerpaw silently wills gruesome death upon Smokepaw and his insidious snark…" Gingerpaw hissed, stalking the dead prey. He sprang, an enormous lunk of ginger fur flying through the air, and landed, knocking the squirrel aside until it went flying, and falling flat on his round white stomach.

"Hahaha, unreal," Smokepaw laughed. "This thing's deader than our ancestors decomposed bodies and you still manage to send it flying. It's almost kind of fascinating that you could pull off the absolute opposite of what you wanted so flawlessly."

"Gingerpaw is using his mental prowess to slowly remove Smokepaw's tongue so no longer can he spit his sarcastic barbs!" Gingerpaw bemoaned, eyes squeezed shut.

"Can it you two, they're _here_." Thornpaw had dragged the squirrel back into view, and nodded to the far side of the clearing.

Two warriors appeared, calmly strolling in the direction of the three apprentices. Greenwhisker, Thornpaw's mentor, came to her side and remarked proudly on the squirrel. Spottedpelt, Gingerpaw's mentor, immediately helped give him some hunting tips to improve his form. Smokepaw sat at the edge of the grouping and watched.

"So!" Greenwhisker chirped to Thornpaw. "Are you feeling up to some tougher prey today? I thought we could head to the Twoleg path and try to catch some birds!"

"Yeah, this she-cat could probably _fly_ ," Smokepaw remarked idly. "I've yet to see her actually screw something up, so if any cat one moon into their apprenticeship can catch a bird, it'd be her."

"Thank you for that slightly two-edged compliment, Smokepaw," Thornpaw nodded dryly. "And yes, I am completely ready to hunt some birds, Greenwhisker."

Spottedpelt and Gingerpaw were gearing up for some new hunting moves, preparing to leave. "Uh, did you guys see Snakefur in camp before you left?" Smokepaw mewed before Thornpaw and Greenwhisker left entirely.

Greenwhisker and Spottedpelt matched gazes. "I don't think so…I'm sure he's just running late."

"Can we try birds today too?" Gingerpaw begged Spottedpelt.

"Not yet. You still need to work on your crouch. I want to see you catch a squirrel today." They followed after where Greenwhisker and Thornpaw were leaving.

Gingerpaw swiveled and looked back at Smokepaw before they'd left. "You want to just hunt with us today, or something?"

"Nah," said Smokepaw, "I can wait here. He'll turn up soon."

"I'm sorry, Smokepaw," Spottedpelt said apologetically, folding his ears down. "You're welcome to join us."

"Nah."

They left, and the clearing was empty, and very shortly after Smokepaw got to his paws and left too. His mentor wasn't coming. He didn't need to wait a heartbeat to know that. Snakefur didn't exactly follow a structured teaching regimen. He had his own ways of doing things, and Smokepaw wasn't complaining.

Well, maybe he was, a little, like about the physical exhaustion he suffered every day from intensive battle training with his mentor at odd hours of the day. He'd only been an apprentice for a moon, and he knew that probably wasn't right, but hey, who was he to complain about getting a head start on battle training with his mentor, one of the fiercest and most ruthless cats in the forest, and also his older brother? It was totally the best possible situation. Obviously.

It looked training wasn't going to be happening today. That was fine. He didn't really care, anyway. Not a lot of stuff got under Smokepaw's skin. For now, he strolled through ShadowClan territory toward the ThunderClan border until he smelled a patrol, and he went to join them, and they all greeted him with "Hey, Smokepaw," because it was a pretty normal occurrence now that he joined in on patrols for no reason other than they were in his part of the forest. And cats respected him. They thought he was pretty alright. He wasn't falling all over himself like Gingerpaw and he wasn't stuck-up like Thornpaw, he was just a neat cat. Although, sometimes he wished some of the senior warriors would keep closer tabs on his training progress, but whatever.

The patrol ended, and Smokepaw was bored and starving hungry, but he didn't really like chowing down on stuff from the fresh-kill pile in the middle of the camp, so he strayed into the woods to catch his own food. As he walked, he heard a twig snap many fox-lengths away, and he instinctively tensed and flinched, and listened carefully before he kept going.

He wasn't that great at hunting, though. His hunting training had been subpar to none. Most of what he knew he'd picked up listening in on Gingerpaw's training. So he stalked about the forest almost until sunset, stalking and losing various mice and voles and shrews.

But he was a patient cat, so he didn't really mind. Just as long as his mentor wasn't around to see him. That'd be awful. But he wasn't, so it was fine.

Snakefur…Snakefur really was one of the toughest cats in the forest. He'd once taken down two massive rogues who'd been stealing ShadowClan prey, as a very new warrior. Every cat in the forest had heard of him and his ruthlessness and ability to race and shimmy through the forest completely unseen.

Smokepaw had always been proud about having Snakefur as his older brother. Though they were sweeps apart, it always made him a little smug. And when Redstar appointed Snakefur as his mentor he was totally psyched! Right? Of course he was! He wasn't worried at all about training under such an extreme and hyper-aggressive tom. Snakefur would sure make a warrior out of him, that was for sure.

But, secretly, maybe under all of that Smokepaw thought it was a little much. Some of this stuff just seemed a little excessive. At the end of the day – well, usually very early in the morning, when _his_ training had finally ended – bedding down next to Gingerpaw and Thornpaw, he wondered if all of this crazy battle training was really necessary. In fact, sometimes he wondered if he really wanted to be a warrior at all. Because deep down, he never felt like he _actually_ cared about any of this. Like maybe it was just a front or something. Gingerpaw and Thornpaw seemed so relentlessly passionate but Smokepaw…he just felt empty.

But it wasn't like he would ever tell Snakefur that. StarClan no.

Finally, Smokepaw got himself a small, young, shrew, and he carried it to a clump of thickets to eat it, but as he was walking through the forest, he was flattened straight into the ground by a cat falling on top of him from one of the trees.

Smokepaw's dinner fell out of his mouth and went scattering across the forest floor as his paws buckled underneath him. A cat had him pimped tightly into the ground, his teeth gingerly pricked in Smokepaw's scruff. He spit it out and shoved the side of his paw into Smokepaw's neck, forcing the side of his head into the dirt, and leaned to speak directly into his ear. "Dead! You'd be dead! I got you."

"You got me," Smokepaw mumbled. He let out a long, internal sigh. "Hey, can I get up, now?"

"Depends." Snakefur mewed into his ear fur. "You ready to take me? Don't get up until you think you can handle a fight, little bro."

"I'm ready."

"You sure? I mean, usually, in this situation, I'd already have you totally killed, so let's see what you got." Snakefur hopped off him on his long and skinny black legs and spun to face him.

Smokepaw rose to his feet. "I think I should bring that shrew back to the camp before I do anything, though…"

Snakefur violently whacked it with his paw, sending it flying into the trees. "There's no time! I'm going to kill you, little brother! You've gotta fight me! Fight! Let's go!" He jumped back and forth on the pine leaves. "Training starts now!" He giggled exuberantly.

"Fine." Smokepaw set his jaw, and dropped into a battle stance, anticipating his mentor's attack, but he was already too slow. Snakefur leaped at a neighboring tree, kicked off from the trunk, twisted in midair and bowled Smokepaw over with his entire body.

"Too easy! Let's go!"

If he wanted to go all out, Smokepaw would go all out. He stood up again, his rear leg aching where he'd banged it on a rock. He started to circle his brother, claws splayed, ears back.

"Fight me!" Snakefur enthused. "Fight me! I'll make a warrior out of you yet!"

Smokepaw lunged, heading for the neck, but Snakefur darted over his head and seized Smokepaw by the hindquarters before he even got a chance to spin around. Why did his mentor have to famously be the fastest cat in the forest? Smokepaw twisted and lashed out, snagging above Snakefur's eye. He'd hit him! That was probably the second time that had _ever_ happened.

But Snakefur didn't take it lightly. He recoiled long enough for Smokepaw to let his guard down, then lashed out, crushing Smokepaw's head into the dirt again. "Got you." He proclaimed.

When he climbed off of Smokepaw, his sleek black body was relaxed and at ease, clearly fighting training was over, for now. Smokepaw picked himself up, struggling to hide his physical pain and discomfort.

"Dinner time?" Snakefur suggested casually, heading after where he'd swept the shrew aside. "Wanna share?"

"Okay," Smokepaw agreed.

Snakefur collected the shrew and dropped it between them. They both crouched down to eat. "So, you've been doing good? How's it going with that ginger friend of yours, and the little she-cat?"

"They're fine," Smokepaw said, sounding apathetic.

"Good, good," Snakefur said. "I thought of you today when I was running passive recon over in WindClan territory. I think you'd keep up nicely doing something like that."

"You were doing that?" Smokepaw meowed. "Whoa."

"Yep. Pretty sweet." Snakefur flicked his tail. "I'm going to talk to Redstar, see if I can get you shadowing me for some of those missions. You won't believe the tensions going on in WindClan right now. When WindClan and ThunderClan eventually collide, it's going to be the battle of a lifetime. Much death. I hope the whole forest gets involved. I'd love to rip the guts out of more than one of those greedy ThunderClan rats."

"Yeah, I hate them," Smokepaw mouthed. "Uh, do you really think I'm ready for a mission like that?"

"You're ready if you want to be," Snakefur coughed. "Half of being a great warrior is being ready to face your own death. The moment you look death in the eye and can say 'I'm not scared of you', you've arrived."

"Are you there?" Smokepaw asked. "Are you at that point?"

"I've been at that point since I was two moons old," Snakefur said. "Death doesn't scare me at all. I'm going to die with a grim smile on my face, because I'm not going to go down fighting for my life – I'll go down fighting to take another's."

"Oh." Smokepaw mewed. "Well, yeah, I'm there. Bring it on, StarClan."

"We'll see," Snakefur smiled.

They'd finished the shrew, and Snakefur stood up, Smokepaw at his side. He turned to the apprentice and Smokepaw instinctively flinched, expecting him to ambush him again. "Let's see what else we can catch," Snakefur meowed grimly, and started into the sunset trees.

Smokepaw was thrilled – hunting practice! Finally! He couldn't wait to see Snakefur's undoubtedly stellar hunting moves.

"You smell anything?" Snakefur whispered.

"Yeah…all sorts."

"Like what?"

"Vole to the left…tons of squirrels, but most of it's old –"

Abruptly, Snakefur had swept the paws out from under his apprentice, and pushed him hard until Smokepaw went rolling and flailing down a pine-laden slope, in the direction of ThunderClan territory. They were quite near the border.

Smokepaw flailed to stop himself, paws slipping all over, and when he got to his feet Snakefur landed on top of him, grabbed his scruff, and literally swung him into the air and sent him flying again.

"You gotta be prepared for an ambush, little brother! Don't let your guard down!" He called.

Smokepaw struggled to his feet, still slipping. "I thought we were going hunting!"

"Hunting? What if I was a ThunderClan warrior! Fight me! Fight me!"

Smokepaw stood, but refused to take a battle stance.

"What, are you scared?" Snakefur meowed. "What are you afraid of?"

"What, I'm not scared," Smokepaw snapped. "This is nothing." He charged Snakefur, but Snakefur leaped overhead again, landed on top of his apprentice, and crushed his head into the dirt, forcing Smokepaw to inhale the pine needles and fallen leaves.

"I'm crushing you, I'm killing you! What do you do now?!"

Smokepaw couldn't move any of his paws from this position, so he lashed his tail and tried to move his head, but Snakefur held him rigidly in place. Smokepaw struggled to breathe against the pine needles. "Geroff," he mumbled.

"Can't get off! Not in a real fight! What are you going to _do?"_ Snakefur pressed even harder.

"I can't breathe!" Smokepaw mumbled, and began fighting and flailing, hard. "I can't breathe!"

Snakefur sunk his claws into the back of his neck, hard this time. "Fight me! You can take me! Don't let me kill you!"

But they both knew full well Smokepaw couldn't take him. Not now, not ever. It was insanity. And Smokepaw knew that, fighting for breath, his eyes watering, dizziness and darkness creeping over the back of his skull.

"Remember what I just told you about facing your death?" Snakefur was saying, as if from very far away, even though his mouth was directly behind Smokepaw's head. "You're never gonna be a hero of any kind of you can't even turn and fight. You're going to meet way stronger foes than someone like me."

"Get off!" Smokepaw mumbled, the darkness encasing him.

Snakefur stamped his paw onto the back of Smokepaw's skull. Smokepaw saw, and felt, absolute darkness, but only for a heartbeat before it was replaced by a brilliant flash of light. He couldn't tell it flashed before him or appeared inside his brain, but it was so bright he was blinded, and was overcome by such extreme pain in his head, and then radiating out into the rest of his body, that he let out a shrieking caterwaul.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Smokepaw bellowed. He spun underneath Snakefur and slammed both front paws into his shiny black chest, and Snakefur _screamed._

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

Smokepaw had never heard a sound like it. Snakefur recoiled like a fox had got him, he went tripping and scrambling over himself, falling on his back and kicking to get away from Smokepaw, emitting that chilling, deathly scream.

Smokepaw scrambled after him. In the light of the setting sun, a line of blood literally fell out of Snakefur's chest in a thick, red sheet. His chest, the usually flawlessly shiny black fur, sported a deep, profound slash all the way through his chest and torso, so deep it was as if something very long and very thin had tried to slice the tom clean in half – and very nearly succeeded. Fur, skin, flesh, even the deepest bones in his body had been severed clean through.

Smokepaw was horrified.

"Help!" Snakefur shrieked, seeing the young. "HELP! HELP ME!" Blood was rushing out of his chest like a river.

Smokepaw scrambled to his side. "I'm sorry!" He gasped. "No! No! I don't know what I did!"

"HELP ME!" Snakefur fell onto his side, shaking and convulsing, yelling for help and gasping as the most blood Smokepaw had ever seen in the world had stained into the dirt around his brother, while Smokepaw struggled to keep two paws on the split on his chest.

"I'm sorry!" He kept pleading. His paws were soaked in blood. "I'm so sorry!"

Snakefur grew slowly still. Shaking frantically, Smokepaw looked around. Where Snakefur had had stood a moment before, something indescribable appeared to float in the air, a sort of square piece of darkness sitting in space, and when Smokepaw approached to peer into it, he saw nothing, absolutely nothing inside. The absence of anything at all.

Behind him, Snakefur groaned, and Smokepaw rushed to his side, in time to watch the life leave the great warrior's eyes. Smokepaw stumbled backward from his body. But when he glanced where his paws had been, he saw his pawprints – but they weren't ordinary pawprints at all. No, where his paws had been a moment before, were the same torn pieces of nothingness, like fractures in the fabric of reality itself.

 **Hmm…Smokepaw is** _ **insanely**_ **powerful. Sorry for the slowness on this one, I had to rewrite it like twice because I couldn't get it right. Thoughts? Predictions? I'd love a few reviews!**

 **Thanks,**

 **~Delaney**


	6. Splinter

_The Land Between, Chapter Six_

Rainpaw wandered miserably all over ThunderClan territory.

Although, not "all over" too much, because he had to be careful where he left his scent now.

Now, he had to make sure he only left his scent in places where the other Rainpaw had already been, so he didn't confuse his Clanmates. He sure worked pretty hard to keep them from freaking out about discovering the possibility there might actually be two Rainpaws out there in the forest!

It was sunhigh, the heat of the day. He was watching the other Rainpaw hunt with Blackpaw and Speckledpaw, having a great old time frolicking in the forest with his friends, totally unaware to how screwed up and crazy everything was, and how he only existed because the time-traveling Rainpaw had screwed something up and spawned him into existence somehow.

Ugh it was so _confusing!_

Rainpaw climbed into a tree to watch from overhead, unseen. The other Rainpaw had no idea anything had happened. He was doing great with Sagewing and his friends and Rainpaw had watched him have a blast at the Gathering a couple nights ago.

He wasn't sure what he was doing anymore. He hadn't talked to anyone in ThunderClan in almost two days now. He couldn't talk to his friends, or his mentor, or even his mother. It was the worst thing in the world. He never thought it was as possible to be as lonely as he was.

Rainpaw sighed, lounging high in an oak tree, watching the other Rainpaw stalking a mouse in the forest. It almost felt like the other Rainpaw was stealing his life. Yesterday, Rainpaw had watched from a thing of thickets as he caught a mouse for the very first time. He watched the pride, the praise, the adoration from Sagewing, the way the other Rainpaw had proudly carried it into the camp, exalted by his friends and fellow warriors.

He'd done it. He'd succeeded, finally. He was on his way to becoming a real warrior.

And meanwhile, Rainpaw watched sadly from a distance, as his future as a warrior became a quickly narrowing window.

"What am I going to do?" He whimpered. Below him, the other Rainpaw had caught the mouse. His second catch. He was overwhelmed with excitement. Rainpaw climbed higher in the tree, unable to watch.

"No really," he mewed out loud. "What am I going to _do?"_

He was starving hungry, too. He still hadn't managed to catch anything. Last night, he'd had to sneak into camp while everyone was asleep and nab a shrew off the fresh-kill pile and eat it alone in the darkness out where the cats made dirt. It was totally depressing and reprehensible. Pathetic, almost, that this was the lonesome, boring life he'd been condemned to.

It would be one thing if the rest of his Clan knew he'd been cut off from them. If they were all feeling his disappearance. That would be something. Then, he'd know his friends missed him. He'd know Sagewing was worried about him. But they had no idea anything had every happened.

And the worst part was that Rainpaw had no idea how he'd managed to create another Rainpaw, seemingly without time-traveling powers, to simply replace Rainpaw's role in existence and cast him aside into total emptiness.

StarClan, he was so sad…he didn't think there could be a sadder cat in the world right now.

Rainpaw climbed down the tree, and walked away from the other Rainpaw and his friends, far away to the edge of the territory, and curled up under a tree for a nap with a long, bereaved sigh. At one point, he thought he heard something behind him, like quiet, cautious pawsteps, but when he sat up and turned around, nothing was there.

He closed his eyes and fell asleep fairly quickly. He was tired all the time now. It was pretty exhausting disappearing from your own life and watching it go on without you like an outsider.

When he opened his eyes, the sun was still high in the sky. It'd been a short nap. He raised his head and while he was blinking and waking up, he saw something strange. In the air about a fox-length ahead of him, there appeared a sparkling trail of green light, but only for a minute, and then it disappeared, and was replaced by the glowy white silhouette of a cat. And a second later, a cat appeared in its place with a pop.

She looked down at Rainpaw lying at the base of the tree, gaping at her, and she swished her tail in a greeting.

"Hi!"

"…" said Rainpaw.

"Um…hello?"

Rainpaw realized it was the dark-gray, long-furred she-cat he'd seen waving at him earlier, when he'd time-skipped to the future and everything was being destroyed. "H…hi," he mewed.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"What are doing here?" He asked. "How did you get here?"

"I jumped!" She enthused. "What's your name, again?"

Rainpaw thought that was weird, when would he have ever told her his name? "I'm Rainpaw," he mewled. He hastily got to his feet and shook out his fur. He gave her a sniff, but her scent was hard to make out. "You're not from ThunderClan, are you?"

"Nope," she purred. "It's so great to finally meet you!"

"Listen, I don't know who you are, but you have to leave me alone." He said. "I'm kind of in trouble here and it's better if I never let anyone see me ever again."

"Oh, you mean how you destroyed your timeline?" She asked. She started to walk deeper into ThunderClan territory.

"What?"

"I'm talking about how you paradox-ed yourself and banished yourself to a splinter timeline." She said. "This sounds kind of weird, but I've been kind of watching you for a while. I think you saw me in the future at one point! But then you kind of freaked out."

"So…you know what's going on?" Rainpaw gasped. "Are you a real cat? You know what's going on with me and this power I have?"

"Yeah!" She meowed. "I have a power too! Isn't it great?"

"Great wasn't the first word I had in mind…" he mumbled. "No offense, but my life has turned pretty awful since this all started."

"Don't worry about that," she said, flicking her tail. "Your life is going to be a lot more interesting than the one you had here."

Rainpaw struggled to keep up with her. She was walking straight toward the training hollow. "I'll admit, I feel a lot better knowing I'm not totally alone in this," he said. "But I still have no idea what's going on, and you look like you know. Do you know how I can go about fixing this other-Rainpaw situation I created?"

"It's way too late for that!" She assured him happily. They'd reached the training hollow, and Rainpaw could hear the voices of his other self and his friends. The dark she-cat crept to one side, and stopped beside some thorn bushes so they could watch. "When you went back in time to stop yourself from gaining your powers, you created another version of yourself that had never discovered them in the first place, and he went on living the life you'd had, and replaced you as the "main" Rainpaw. The Rainpaw whose timeline is about this life here – becoming a warrior and training with his Clanmates – that's him there."

"…so what about me?" Rainpaw mewled.

She looked at him, beaming. Her bright green eyes were really pretty, he had to admit it. "Your timeline is much more interesting!"

"How do you know?"

"Because of my dreams! I've known for a long time!" She looked back at the apprentices tousling in the training hollow. "But you were right to stay away from your Clan and the other Rainpaw and your friends. Imagine if this Rainpaw here saw you – he'd have no context to put it into. He could go mad. Not to mention any of your other Clanmates."

"So…" Rainpaw mewled pitifully. "Anytime I go back in time, I create another Rainpaw?"

"No," she mewed. "Only when you go back and profoundly change your own timeline. If you'd never altered the past so that Rainpaw never caught the vole and found his powers, and you merely watched him instead, it's safe to assume you could travel back to the present and have created a stable loop through time. Time travel is very risky. But, for example, if your future self joined us right now, and told you not to talk to me anymore because it lead to some negative outcome your _future self_ had experienced, you would know to stop talking to me, and you would never face that negative outcome - but your future self would still exist independent of you, as the Rainpaw that _had_ experienced that negative outcome. Your future self would have believed the best option was to forego his existence as the "main" Rainpaw by going back in time and making things better for _you_ – stepping aside as the main Rainpaw and letting you take his place."

"That is…so depressing," Rainpaw gasped. "All these splintered Rainpaws, running around without a purpose anymore because they'd destroyed their own timelines? I…"

"It's not always bad, though! But this is why it's important to understand that altering your own past so severely means you're forgoing your existence to be taken over by another Rainpaw, so it should only be left to the most dire circumstances – and it's your path as a time traveler to learn how and when to make that decision, and to trust your own judgement! It is possible, through practice and precision, to go back in time and alter the timelines of others around you to affect your own timeline, and in doing so, the effects will catch up to you and make your current timeline have a better outcome, without condemning you to a splintered timeline."

"Uh…" Rainpaw said. "I am _not_ about all of this. Everything you just said basically went over my head."

"Well, you'll find a way to figure it out on your own," she shrugged. "I'm not the time traveler! It's up to you to learn the boundaries of your own powers."

"So, wait…" Rainpaw watched the other Rainpaw fall into a playfight with Blackpaw. "There's got to be a way to fix this loop here, between me and him. There's got to be a way I can take his place as the Rainpaw who's training and becoming a warrior, but still being me, the Rainpaw who has these powers and knows about everything that has happened."

"There is," she agreed. She nodded at the other Rainpaw. "You could kill him."

"Huh?!"

"If you want to replace him on his timeline, go kill him. Then you can pick up where he left off and go on training to be a warrior and not worry about there being two Rainpaws. But you better do it soon, because the more time goes on, the more that Rainpaw will grow and change and experience important events you don't, and killing him to take over will leave you disadvantaged and confuse your Clanmmates in more ways than one, because you will never know or experience those changes or events!"

"…I could…never…"

"Then there you go." The she-cat concluded. She stood up and began to walk away. "You're on a different path now."

"But – but what about everything I saw in the future? Like the world getting destroyed? You were there, for StarClan's sake!" Rainpaw raced after her. "I mean, who's going to warn the Clans about that if the main Rainpaw has no idea about any of that!"

"Warning the Clans isn't important," she said. "None of that matters anymore."

"What?! How! I have to find a way to go back to being the main Rainpaw so I can talk to my Clan and warn them about the future so we can figure out a way to stop it and I can go on learning to be a really great warrior and aaagh!"

"I think it's likely you serve a much more important purpose than that!" The dark gray she-cat chirped.

"What? No." Rainpaw said. He hopped after her. "No way. I'm not even going to tell you how wrong you are. Actually, I think I am, because it'll bug me if I don't. First of all, the only important purpose I serve is scaring away all the prey in the forest. Second, what in StarClan's name do you mean by "more important purpose"? What could possibly be more important than trying to stop the literal destruction of our planet?!"

"Well, from the knowledge I've gathered, I think the scope of your influence will be much, much greater! Maybe the world can't be saved! Maybe we need to find a new one! And maybe that's what your purpose is all about! You're jealous of that other Rainpaw over there, but he doesn't have _half_ the huge, important destiny that you do!"

"Aaah! What! You're so crazy! Who even are you? What in the Dark Forest is your _deal?_ You're such a spooky mystic cat! Are you even a cat at all?"

"Um, I'm a normal apprentice just like you," she sounded almost offended. "So just calm down a little. And I don't think that sounds much crazier than you learning how to time travel and accidentally destroying your regular timeline."

"I can't even handle this." Rainpaw dropped to the ground and rolled onto his back and started squirming all over the leaves fallen on the ground. "I want to go back in time to when everything was normal and I just wanted to catch a stupid mouse or something! And what's messed up is I can actually literally go back in time! But I can't! Because everything's so screwed up! And I can never undo this! Waahh!"

"Can you stop throwing such a huge tantrum…" She muttered, watching him skeptically. "Like, get up and get your fur in order."

Rainpaw flipped over and got back to his feet. "Can you at least please tell me who you are? I will be honest, I'm really glad you're here…I feel so much better than I have since this whole mess started, and you're easy to talk to, and you're kind of cool, and you have powers like me…"

"Oh!" Her face lit up. "That makes me so happy! Well, I guess I can tell you then! I know we'll all be meeting up for real soon anyway. My name's – "

And just like that, with a flutter of white-green light, she vanished into thin air.

"Agh! NOOOOOOOOOO!" Rainpaw jumped around in a circle. "No! No! No! No! StarClan, why!"

But, he still felt better somehow, even though whoever she was had mysteriously disappeared on him. In fact, he felt _way_ better. He felt so much less alone. He felt like he could breathe finally. He was starving, however, but it would be a while yet before the sun went down and the Clan was asleep and he could sneak some fresh-kill. He could try his paw at hunting again, but he knew it would be moot.

What had the she-cat meant when she said "we'd all be meeting up soon"? And about him having a huge, important destiny? Thinking about that made him feel better and worse at the same time, it was strange. Because he still so longed to go back to his normal, warrior apprentice life.

Behind him, a twig cracked, loudly. Rainpaw spun around, fur standing on end. Maybe...the dark-gray she cat was back? He could learn her name? He dropped to a crouch and waited and waited, but nothing changed. And then, after quite a while, the leaves of a neighboring bush rattled, and a cat poked out, walking low to ground, clearly unaware that Rainpaw was crouching there, watching her.

"Aha!" Rainpaw yowled, pouncing on her. It wasn't the dark gray she-cat, but it was a she-cat. She squealed in surprise as Rainpaw landed on her, kicked him off, and stumbled a few tail-lengths away, but she didn't turn tail and run, like Rainpaw assumed. And she didn't look angry or aggressive, either, she just stared at him, eyes wide, flustered. She was a pale silver, almost white, and her eyes were brilliantly blue.

"Hey," she mumbled.

"…Hi?" She smelled like RiverClan. Rainpaw's pelt pricked. Could he still defend his Clan's territory even though he lived in a splintered, destroyed timeline? Did that really not matter anymore, like the gray she-cat had said? "What are you doing in ThunderClan territory?" He growled.

The she-cat didn't seem to care whatsoever about his threat. "Can…you see me?" She asked.

"Huh?"

"Can you see me?"

"Yes? Uh..."

"Oh…thank StarClan." She dipped her head and sat down heavily. Then she looked up at him. "So are you dead too?"

"What? Am I dead? No, I'm not…" he broke off, staring at her. For a moment, he clearly saw the same, lonely, miserable fear in her eyes he'd felt every day since the discovery of his power. "I'm not dead, I'm a time traveler."

"Oh."

"What's…your power?"

"Power?" She mumbled. "I don't have a power. I'm dead. I disappeared one day and now nobody can see me, and my whole Clan is worried about me."

"Well…maybe you turned invisible!" Rainpaw suggested. "Which is a pretty sweet power if you ask me! Because I can see you just fine, and you look perfectly alive to me!"

She gazed at him. "I'm Rosepaw." She mewed.

Rainpaw stretched out his paw toward her, like he wanted to comfort her. "Rainpaw." he said.

"Listen, Rosepaw…" Rainpaw tried. "I was going to wander around a bit, kill time until moonhigh, and steal some fresh-kill from camp…I could nab you something?"

"Seriously? I could just catch us something," she meowed. They began to walk side by side. "If you don't mind me taking some ThunderClan prey."

"I guess there's not a lot of reason for me to mind anymore," Rainpaw observed. "Are you a good hunter?"

"I'm pretty good," Rosepaw said.

"There's a stream over near here, if you want to try your RiverClan-fish-catching thing."

"Oh, not _that_ good," she mewed. "I only had my apprentice ceremony a moon ago."

"Me too!" Rainpaw said excitedly. "Wow, we're the same age, that's so great. So…do you miss all your friends and stuff, too? I really miss my mentor, for one. It sucks living in a destroyed timeline."

"To be honest, I didn't have a lot of friends in RiverClan," Rosepaw sighed, as they walked together. He was really enjoying her company. She seemed really nice and calm, despite a little depressed and moody. "I really think you're the only cat in the world that can see me, for some reason. I just miss my little sisters. It's so hard."

"I know." Rainpaw agreed. "I hate knowing that none of my Clanmates know I'm gone. Although, I guess it's different for you."

"Same sentiment," she shrugged. "I think we can both agree we got hit with a bad break, here."

"Yeah, these power things sure are random, aren't they?" Rainpaw mewed. "It seems like we have a lot in common, despite being from different Clans, and you seem really cool, which is awesome."

"Thanks," Rosepaw said. "You seem really cool too!"

They reached the stream at the far side of ThunderClan territory and he Rainpaw picked his way across it, but Rosepaw waded calmly through the shallower waters. He really admired it. He'd never met a RiverClan cat before.

As they walked and talked, they neared the ShadowClan border, and Rainpaw stopped instinctively, but Rosepaw strolled on like she hadn't even smelled it, crossing easily into ShadowClan territory and stopping only when she realized Rainpaw wasn't at her side.

"Hey, where are you going?" Rainpaw asked.

"They can't see me," she shrugged. "I don't exist! The other day, a WindClan patrol ran right through me."

"Okay, as unspeakably awesome and cool as that sounds, I don't think it's a good idea if the both of us go strolling through enemy territory," Rainpaw said.

Rosepaw suddenly wasn't listening. She seemed to be transfixed by something in the air in front of her. She lifted her head to gape at it, mouth slipping open, but Rainpaw couldn't see anything. "Hey…" she mewed. "Come look at this."

"Uh…"

"Just come on. You have to see this."

Rainpaw stepped anxiously over the border, his stomach churning. even a few tail lengths from ThunderClan territory, ShadowClan territory still felt markedly different – darker and spookier, the pine needles extra sharp under his paws. He climbed to Rosepaw's side, where she stood at the top of a ridge. "What is it?" He asked.

"Look." She nodded with her paw, but Rainpaw still couldn't see. "Come around next to me. Look from this angle."

Rainpaw stood beside her. From here, he could see it plainly – what looked like massive shapes cut into the air in front of them, an enormous, haphazard rectangle floating in midair, a slice of empty darkness hovering in front of them, like a huge rip in space.

"What are they?" Rosepaw murmured.

Rainpaw padded around. They were everywhere. The largest was twice their size. There were several floating all around them, and when he looked at the ground, it was covered in little ones, almost like pawprints.

He stepped forward to the largest one, lifted his paw, and put it against the empty darkness it showcased. He thought his paw might hit a hard surface, but instead, it sunk deep into the shape. Rainpaw moved to see from the other side of where it floated, but from the back, not only could he not see the shape at all, he couldn't see his paw stretching through the air either. And when he looked from the side, that's what he saw: his paw disappearing into midair, into a one-dimensional doorway visible only from one side that somehow managed to swallow up his three-dimensional body.

"Whoa…" Rainpaw mumbled, sticking his paw as far as he could. He stared into what was inside the rift, but everywhere he looked, he saw nothing. It wasn't even blackness, it was just… _nothing_. His stomach started to sway with nausea, his head hurt, a dull pound. "Uh…I feel weird," He mewed.

"Hey, get away from there," Rosepaw mewled. "This isn't right."

Rainpaw pulled his paw out and the sickness disappeared. They both stared at the shape. "What _are_ these things?" Rosepaw asked.

"They're like…" Rainpaw walked in a circle around the one he'd been sticking his leg into. From the back, he couldn't see it at all, just Rosepaw sitting on the other side. "One dimensional rifts in spacetime."

"This is creepy." Rosepaw decided. She stood up and headed for the ThunderClan border. "I'm out of here."

"Yeah, good call," Rainpaw mewed, rushing after her. "Let's go raid the fresh-kill pile. I'm hungry and I'm sick of this."

They both just seemed eager to put ShadowClan territory far behind them and pursue the idea of full bellies. As they neared the ThunderClan camp, Rainpaw noticed how quiet it was. He picked up speed and emerged at the side of the quarry behind Lightstar's den. When he looked down into the camp, he expected to see the usual bustle of Clanmates – warriors readying patrols, queens shepherding kits, apprentices fighting over prey, but now, the camp was completely empty.

Rainpaw waited for a minute, like expecting a hoax or something. But the camp was silent, no cats were visible, no scents arose. The whole place was vacant.

"Hello?" He called, softly, into the camp. When he didn't get a response, he emitted a yowl. "HELLO?"

"There's no one here," Rosepaw meowed anxiously.

"Where's…where's my Clan?" Rainpaw asked, brokenly.

 **Long chapter, sorry, but it's mostly dialog. Lots of time-travely mumbo-jumbo, let me know if you couldn't follow any of that. LOL. Our heroes are coming together! In bits and pieces anyway. I think this is my favorite chapter so far. We're almost done with introductions and then we'll be onto the real adventure, I promise. :). I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts!**

 **~Delaney**


	7. Jadepaw

_The Land Between, Chapter Seven_

A dark-gray she-cat with long fur and bright green eyes slept soundly on a breezy WindClan hillside.

She was curled on her side, paws together, eyes tightly shut. She was obviously deep in some sort of dream world. In front of her nose several picked flowers and plant shoes were scattered across the grass. The sun was high in the sky, it was late morning, twinkling brightly on the grassy moors of WindClan territory. And in the middle of it, the little she-cat slept snugly.

Her name was Jadepaw. She had a bit of a problem with getting distracted and lying down for inopportune naps.

All of a sudden, her eyes opened and she sat up.

She blinked blearily at the brightness of the world around her. Jeez…dozed off, again? She looked around her paws. What was she doing again? She spied the scattered herbs. Oh right. Yew and borage shoots. Daisyleaf had wanted some…hours ago. And she'd been on her way back when she felt compelled to take a nap instead. Bah! She was always getting distracted and forgetting things.

Jadepaw gathered up the herbs as fast as she could and raced up the slope to the WindClan camp. She was the newly appointed medicine cat apprentice of WindClan. She'd only had her apprentice ceremony a moon ago, but she was already thriving. Being a medicine cat was clearly her true calling.

Or it had been, up until a moon ago, when her dreams started showing her there was something much bigger in store for her.

But being a medicine cat was still a close second!

Jadepaw rounded the crest of the hill that preluded the WindClan camp. Her Clan was in a bit of a disarray lately. The tension with ThunderClan was really mounting. The senior warriors were having a hushed and urgent meeting near the fresh-kill pile, kind of monopolizing it for anyone else who might want to score an early lunch. Last week, there had been a border skirmish over a rabbit a WindClan cat had caught over the ThunderClan border, and both Clans were really upset about it.

Jadepaw secretly thought her Clan was being a little unreasonable. If she was in ThunderClan, she wouldn't have wanted WindClan to catch prey over her border, "WindClan prey" or not. And Heatherstar had been pretty transfixed with all of this stuff, to the point of mild obsession.

It didn't really matter though! And Jadepaw was the only one who knew that. Sometimes it got tough being the only cat who knew what was really in store for everyone, due to powerful and prophesizing dreams, but most of the time Jadepaw couldn't be bothered to think about all that.

She scurried into the medicine cat den, herbs clamped tight in her mouth. It didn't look like Daisyleaf was in. Probably out gathering herbs of her own. Oh well. Jadepaw would surely catch up with her later. She had a lot to do, and couldn't waste time sitting around waiting for her mentor. She dropped off her herbs and left camp as quickly as she arrived.

Outside, Jadepaw went leaping and bounding over the grassy plains of her home territory, streaking by with the breeze in her fur, until she reached a good spot overlooking the lake, where she stopped to admire the view.

Today was a very, very big day.

And it didn't hurt to stop and smell the breeze for a while.

A figure appeared much farther down the hill, slowly weaving its way in her direction. Jadepaw peered carefully in the sun, and realized it was Daisyleaf and her stocky tortoiseshell pelt. Jadepaw immediately went tearing down the slope to reach her. "Hi Daisyleaf!" She called.

"Oh, there you are!" Daisyleaf mewed. "I thought something might have happened to you! Did you find the borage?"

"I did, and the yew, too!" Jadepaw said. "Sorry about that. I fell asleep."

"Duskpaw cut his foot on some Twoleg trash," Daisyleaf said, walking up the hill, forcing Jadepaw to match her slower pace. "Clean through the pad. He needs cobwebs for the bleeding and –"

" – poppy for the pain!" Jadepaw finished. "I can handle it, Daisyleaf."

"Thanks, Jadepaw," Daisyleaf purred. "I've still got my paws full with Wildflower and her whitecough. I don't want it spreading to the kits."

"Hmm." Jadepaw said, thinking. "Yeah." She wondered if it was worth informing Daisyleaf that she was due for a very important nap at a very important place in no less than one hour. Honestly, it got really difficult being a supernaturally-in-tune young she-cat when the rest of the world was trying to ground you in its external responsibilities. Nobody ever understood. She had some credit, due to being a medicine cat apprentice and being known to share mystical tongues with StarClan, but for her it had become way more than that. And there was a limit to what her Clanmates were willing to believe.

At least she was about to make three new very important friends, though. They were far more likely to understand.

Back at camp, Jadepaw made quick work tending to Duskpaw. He was always getting himself into trouble and cutting his paws open and stuff. He was in the medicine cat den like every week.

"Here," Jadepaw said, wrapping cobwebs around and around his paw. "Try to lie more on your side, so you're not crushing your paw and messing up the wrapping and stuff."

"It's just a little cut," Duskpaw boasted. "It already stopped bleeding, even without the cobwebs. I probably didn't even need to come in here."

"Probably not!" Jadepaw agreed. "Maybe you're just wasting all of our precious medicine cat resources. Or maybe you just come in here for the poppy seeds. They're addictive you know." She flattened her ears.

"Or maybe I just come in here to get fussed over by you," he purred.

"Shh!" She waved her paw at him. "Ugh, you are so gross!"

"Well, you're pretty. Just saying."

"So gross!"

"Pretty!"  
"Groooooss!"

"What's going on in here?" Daisyleaf meowed, sticking her head in.

"Nothing!" Jadepaw assured her. She turned to Duskpaw with a hiss. "See, now you made her stop what she's doing. You're a bad cat."

"Heheheh." Duskpaw chuckled, stretching out on his side. "Poppy seeds, please?"

"Fine. I have somewhere else to be anyway!" Jadepaw lifted the seed pod off its spot in the tall grass. She shook it to release the seeds. "You only get two."

"Two…? Come on."

"Two's all you get!"

"What do I have to do to get three? Or four? Two is totally wimping out."

"It's just a little cut," Jadepaw mocked him serenely. "You probably didn't even need to come in here."

"Oh, whatever," Duskpaw huffed, swiping for the two poppy seeds and lapping them up. "So where are you off to?"

"I have to take a nap!" She purred.

"You and your naps. So weird."

"Yep!"

"Don't you want to stay and keep me company until the seeds kick in?"

"Keep dreaming." Jadepaw meowed flatly. She walked to the entrance of the den, leaving the tom behind. Daisyleaf was bent over a sleepy Wildflower. "Uh, we're almost out of cobwebs," she said to her mentor. "Is it okay if I go sniff around near Twolegplace for some more?"

"Of course, Jadepaw," Daisyleaf said. "Thanks. That helps me a lot, actually."

"Okay," Jadepaw purred. Daisyleaf was such a kind, level cat. She'd never snapped at anyone in her life. Even when cats were being bombarded with greencough, or a battle had resulted in serious injury, Daisyleaf stayed calm and steady as a rock. Jadepaw admired her more than anyone.

Which was why she hated lying to her about the cobwebs. Jadepaw despised liars, and deceitful cats in general, which was why she strived to always tell as much of the truth as she could. But sometimes, other things were more important. In fact, as far as she was aware, lying to Daisyleaf so she could take her nap was important in insuring Daisyleaf's very survival! In a long, roundabout way, but it did.

Jadepaw left camp again and she did head in the direction of Twolegplace, but she stopped instead when she reached a small outcropping of smooth, flat rocks, and she walked to one side, dropped into a crouch, and slithered into an opening beneath one of them, a cool little cave she often used to take her choicest naps.

She curled up into a little ball, tail wrapped around her, bushy tail-tip resting on her nose.

And slept.

And while she slept, she dreamed.

She was curled up under a long, silvery outcropping of rocks covered in a heap of shiny white sand, some of which had fallen onto her fur. Jadepaw stood up and shook out her fur and slipped out of the rocky hollow. Outside, it was very bright.

As far as she could see, great, soft dunes of sand rolled away before her, all the way down to where they hit the water – a shimmy, glistening lake reflecting a million pastel colors: pink and pale blue and yellow, and rippling softly in an invisible breeze. On the other side of the water, the sand dunes picked up again.

Jadepaw turned around. Behind her, the dune sloped up into a mellow cliff wall made of the same silvery stone she'd been sleeping under. On top of it sat the ruins of an old structure – something Twolegs may have constructed, but here, it was clearly designed by and for cats just like her. It was built of solid squares of stone, the same pastel colors as the water.

She began to dart up the hill, following a line of pawsteps she'd made earlier that traveled the other direction, from the temple to the rocks where she'd been sleeping. Jadepaw was quite familiar with this place by now. Her paws scattered the fine white sand after her as she climbed, until she rounded the stone cliff and reached the pastel structure. A small stone arch invited entrance inside. Just before she walked through, Jadepaw stopped and turned to look at the sky.

The sky overhead fluttered a very pale pink and blue, almost undetectable from pure white. There wasn't a cloud in sight. Usually, the sky remained a constant state of pale blue and gold and yellow clouds, plush and curling, scooted across it, but today the sky was completely clear, and it flickered with changing colors.

Just like the runes had told her.

Jadepaw smiled exuberantly and ducked into the temple.

Her paws pattered silently down a stone path lit by overhead gaps in the stone. Stray dustings of sand had made it inside. As she passed, she looked at the walls beside her. They were absolutely coated in drawings and carvings. She'd seen all of these before, but they were still worth another peek.

They started with simple depictions of four cats – a black-and-white tom beside a bolt of lightning, a small silver she-cat and a set of waves carved into the stone, a reddish tom cloaked in clouds of shadow, and a fluffy she-cat surrounded by curls of wind and breeze.

Farther down, the runes showed the black and white tom in a symbolic rendering, digging deep into the earth, at the bottom of which a single star had been drawn. And after that, a similar drawing of the silver she-cat deep underwater, holding between two paws the same star. And then the russet tom twisted in midair, mouth agape in a snarl, a star drawn inside his forehead, paws out, cupping a scribble of darkness.

And beyond that…

A fluffy dark she-cat flew through the air, paws splayed, reaching out to catch the largest of the stars.

Hmm.

It had always perplexed her. Until today. Today, the runes would show her where to go.

Jadepaw walked and walked down the tunnel. At the end, a pale light flickered and fluttered through a rainbow of pale colors. Beside her, the runes had turned more detailed and complicated the farther she went. A planet cracked and shattered. An enormous round dais rose from mysterious sand. Four mysterious symbols. Things coded by color. A timer etched with a countdown seemingly rendered in a language only she could understand. None of this made sense to her.

She'd reached the end of the tunnel, and emerged into an enormously towering room. She looked up as high as she could, to a round, open ceiling from which the pink and blue light fluttered straight through in shafts of colorful light, falling on two spiraling towers, one green and one red. Jadepaw quickly ran to the green one and ran up the winding path on the side until she reached the top.

The usually flat surface on the top had changed. Instead of unmarked stone, it was now carved with one single rune. She stepped back to look at it carefully. The rune depicted the fluffy she-cat she'd come to know as herself, midleap off the tower she stood on right now.

Jadepaw stared at it, perplexed. Really? That was all? She was hoping for some long story made of pictures and symbols that showed her exactly where to go and what to do.

To her right came a sleepy snore. She looked over at the neighboring tower. Oh right…him. Her denmate, as it were. He was sure getting the nap of his life over there. Just like he had been every single moment since she'd first woken up here a moon ago.

The young tom breathed in and out, curled tiredly on top of the red tower, emitting another snore. His black-and-white fur sparkled and trailed with hazy red light and little pricks of light. Just like Jadepaw's fur sparkled with green light!

She'd been warned by the runes not to try and wake him up, but sometimes it was a difficult urge to stifle. As much as Jadepaw loved running around this brilliant land of sand and light, rolling around in the sand and basking in the pastel light and dabbing her paws in the warm, colorful water, it did get a little lonely at times. And she'd have loved to share it with that friendly looking tom over there. They were the only two cats in this whole place, after all.

Oh well. Surely he'd wake up someday. In some form or another. Back to her own personal mission here. Jadepaw gazed at the rune on her own tower bed again.

Was the rune telling her to leap off the tower? She really couldn't interpret it any other way. She peered over the edge. A jump from here would surely result in her death. Although, she wasn't sure if she could actually die in this world. She wasn't really sure what the limits of her existence were here at all! She'd just gone to sleep the first time ever at the Moonpool, next to the other Clan medicine cats, but instead of seeing StarClan, she opened her eyes and here she was, waking up on top of her tower on this beautiful magical world, her fur full of light.

Hmm. Jadepaw wasn't one to doubt the runes, though. If the rune told her to jump, she would jump. She'd been waiting for this day for the entire moon since she'd first woken up here. The day she was supposed to Awaken, and her adventure would begin.

She took a deep breath, and took a long look at the other, slumbering cat, and smiled.

She couldn't wait to finally meet him.

And she leaped bravely off the tower.

She felt herself start to fall, and then the world turned black as she fell asleep.

An instant later, her eyes opened again. WindClan territory flashed wildly in front of her. Behind her, the branches of the tallest pine in WindClan territory whipped past her. She was plummeting through the air, hurtling toward the ground.

Jadepaw gasped out loud and twisted frantically in midair, trying to seize one of the branches, but she was falling too fast. And then she saw it, floating below her in the air, a tiny prick of white light that glowed brilliant bright when she lay her eyes upon it.

She felt herself smile. Of course!

She stretched her paws out to catch it as she fell, and when she reached it, the entire world turned white and she seemed to be paralyzed in it, unable to move, stuck in time and blankness, and then a moment later the world reappeared, the coziness of her nest in the medicine cat den, and instead of slamming into the grassy ground of WindClan territory, she landed gently on her nest.

Jadepaw took a gasp of breath, letting herself relax. She couldn't believe it. She must have sleepwalked to that tree and climbed all the way up it while she was dreaming!

That wasn't uncommon, though. She often found herself replicating the actions she took in her dreams in the land of light in the waking world, too. There were some powerful forces involved in all of this. That was for sure.

She looked down at her paws. It was as if she'd jumped through space back there. Is that what her power was? But how did it work? She turned her paws upside down and stared at her pads, and brought the tree to the forefront of her mind. She closed her eyes and pictured it as clearly as she could.

She opened her eyes. She was lying at the base of the tree.

Jadepaw's mouth opened in a wide smile of wonder. Of course. She could _jump_.

 **Aaaand now things are finally moving. Less mopey apprentices, more lore and adventure! I love Jadepaw XD. And her colorful dream world is introduced! (Name to be revealed shortly). There will be more where that came from soon. Reviews are welcome!**

 **~Delaney**


	8. Destruct

_The Land Between, Chapter Eight_

A trail of pawprints lead through ShadowClan territory. Each shimmered like a little empty hole in the ground.

As he ran, Smokepaw tried to lash his tail against the leaves after him to cover them up, but it did very little.

He'd been sitting alone in an old fox den near ThunderClan territory for almost three days now. He'd tried to move as little as possible. Inside the den, his destructive paws tore holes in everything he touched.

But he _had_ to eat.

He'd left the den, only wanting to snag a mouse or something, but since he still wasn't that great of a hunter, he'd had to wander farther and farther away, hopelessly chasing scents to dead ends among the pine needles and leaves. He was very near the ThunderClan border. It was the early evening, when he knew his Clan would be out and about, but this was the best time for an easy catch.

He hadn't seen anyone in three days. He'd pretty much assumed that part of his life was over. Too bad.

Smokepaw caught the heavy scent of squirrel, right nearby, and dropped into a crouch, his paws kicking up dirt behind him. The squirrel hopped into view, at the base of a tree, and Smokepaw was so hungry he didn't waste a minute, he lunged. The squirrel dove, running right under his paws in a dash to escape.

He whipped around to chase it, in time to watch the squirrel sprint across the leaves and then tumble straight into the hole his kicking hind paws had created a moment ago.

Smokepaw raced to the edge of the hole to watch it fall. It was just large enough to fit his head in, so he thrust it through, in time to see the squirrel, with a muted squeal, fall away and disappear into a dark and empty abyss.

"Great StarClan," he mumbled in horror, pulling his head from the hole and composing himself. Where on earth was that squirrel going now? The idea was so horrible it put a chill down his spine. And he was still out of a dinner.

Not far to his left, he heard the voices of cats. A patrol? He seized up instinctively, the way he'd always done around Snakefur, and had to consciously remind himself that such hypervigilance was no longer necessary. Even so, he went streaking across the forest floor to a lump of rocks to crouch and hide.

The voices approached slowly. Smokepaw gulped nervously and his heart thumped in his chest. The thing was, they were near Snakefur's grave site. Or his murder site. The place where he'd died and it had all happened. Smokepaw had dragged his body into the stream and sent him downriver, hoping he'd wash up in the lake and Smokepaw's scent would be long gone. He had to admit, he didn't want to be anywhere nearby when his brother was discovered. His heart shuddered just thinking about it.

Two cats crawled up the slope into view, plain as day. He could tell by their size they were young apprentices, like him. One was black and white, the other a silver-gray. They walked closer, talking loudly. He sniffed the air and realized neither were from ShadowClan. What on Earth? What did they think they were doing here? His fur started to prickle. The silver she-cat broke ahead, and walked even closer to where Smokepaw hid, and then came to a stop and looked at the air in front of her.

"Hey…" she mewed to her companion. "Come look at this."

Smokepaw flattened his ears and silently cursed the air. Of course! Three days ago, after Snakefur died and everything turned awful, he'd stood there freaking out waving his paws in the air and destroying everything around him and just totally panicking for five minutes. The two apprentices had to be looking at the holes he'd made. But he couldn't see them from this side. Which meant they weren't fading away or anything. Nope. They were here to stay.

Smokepaw dipped his head. He didn't even care that those apprentices were intruders. He didn't even care about that anymore. He was so hungry, and so tired, and so confused. He'd destroyed his own life, and this was what remained.

Another set of voices approached behind him, several this time, and close. A patrol, his own Clan. Far more terrifying than any intruders. Smokepaw broke into a run and sprinted all the way back to his fox den, he curled up and hid inside. The last thing he wanted was to watch one of his Clanmates fall into one of those holes like the squirrel had.

He closed his eyes on his hunger and let out a long sigh. It wasn't that he missed his Clan, or his friends – Smokepaw had never really _missed_ anyone – it was that he missed the future Clan life had guaranteed. Like, he was going to be an apprentice, training to be a warrior, that was guaranteed. That was his future. It really wasn't up for discussion.

It was the clear direction he'd really liked. In all honesty, he'd been pretty apathetic about becoming a warrior at all, and never really knew or cared if any of these territorial issues or bloody fights even mattered that much, but it wasn't until the last three days that he realized how necessary it had been having some semblance of a structured life.

Because now…?

He guessed he would become a rogue. Or a loner, probably, because he didn't have the fight in him necessary to become a rogue. He'd drop the -paw from his name and just go as Smoke. Smoke the Outlaw.

His mind flashed. Snakefur reeling back with an enormous split in his chest. Snakefur bleeding out faster than Smokepaw thought blood could flow. Snakefur bleeding and yelling for help.

"Agh," he mumbled, burying his head in his paws. "Noo."

It really wasn't a matter of discussion. He had _destroyed_ this life. He could never go back to being a Clan cat, or even make an attempt to. He could never bring this dark power of his into camp. He clearly posed a far greater threat to all of cat kind than he did a benefit to his Clan as a warrior cat apprentice. Not to mention the amount of explaining he would have to do.

"Hey, Gingerpaw, see these totally deadly and lethal black holes I'm sort of involuntarily ripping in spacetime?" Smokepaw murmured out loud. "I'm just kind of destroying reality with me everywhere I go. Isn't that so cool? Oh, I killed my mentor, too. No big deal. What's up with you?"

He sighed shortly through his nose. Late tonight, he would hunt, he decided. And then first thing in the morning, he was packing up and getting as far away from the forest as he could. Didn't matter where, didn't matter how, he was getting out of town.

His Clan would figure him dead. That was okay. Nobody really cared that much about him anyway. He was kind of irrelevant. Especially because Snakefur was his brother and Snakefur was the bravest, scariest warrior in the forest, and Smokepaw was…well, definitely neither of those things. He was kind of a perennial letdown actually. _Like, oh, whoa, your_ Snakefur's _little brother? Wow, I can't wait to hear from more from you!_ And then, upon realizing they really were nothing alike at all, getting lots of comments from cats like _he's really cool, he just needs to get out of his brother's shadow a little more!_ and _I'm sure he'll have lots of his own talents someday._

It was too bad, really. But he'd be fine. He'd forge his own path away from cat civilization. Whatever. You did what you had to. And that's what he would do. He would –

Resonating through the entire forest around him, there came a deafening crack like a thunderbolt.

Smokepaw's ears flew up and he scrambled out of the fox den. The forest had grown deathly quiet, as if for a second, it had responded to the sound by the complete absence of activity. No birds, no breeze, no animals in the underbrush. He froze and listened.

The crack came again, and this time the forest rumbled, at first far away in the trees, and then rushing toward the ground beneath his paws until it was shaking and Smokepaw had to dig his claws into the grass for support.

There was a third crack, and in the trees several fox lengths to his left, the ground seemed to split in two, one side shooting into the air with a shower of dirt chunks and grass. The split in the earth started to race toward him.

Smokepaw ran as fast as he could. The crack, deepening, raced under his paws and the ground yawned open before him, revealing an enormous chasm, and when he peered inside he saw deep into a dark void almost like what his own paws had been perpetually creating. He leaped with all his might, landed on the other side of the crack, and as he ran, the ground began to splinter and shake until it was disappearing from under his paws and he had to fight to keep his balance. He streaked toward ShadowClan camp.

The loudest crack came of all, almost a boom this time, and the ground shook so hard Smokepaw was thrown through the air. He flailed his paws blindly, drawing dramatic shapes in the air that pieces of flying dirt went disappearing into, and then he landed. "HEY!" He yowled, picking himself up and sprinting off again. "GINGERPAW! THORNPAW! ANYONE! RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

A tree was lifted into the air in front of him while the ground erupted, and it fell straight toward him as another booming crack caused the ground under Smokepaw's paws to turn slippery and uneven, trapping him in place as the tree was flung into the air and rocketed straight toward him, roots and trunk first, branches and leaves causing enough drag for him to boldly swipe his paw through the air above him in a circle. A dark hole blinked to life, and the tree, instead of thundering upon him and crushing him, slipped silently into it and disappeared.

"Whoa." Smokepaw panted. He regained his footing and kept running to camp, yelling for his Clanmates the whole way.

When he reached it, the camp was still largely intact. The worst destruction seemed to be closer to ThunderClan territory, and hadn't reached here yet, although the booms and cracks echoing through the trees were deafening and the ground still shook violently. "Hey!" He gasped, forcing himself through the brambles and briars guarding the camp entrance and cutting himself all over in the process like an idiot. The ground was so uneven, and he was so shaken up, that he couldn't help it. He quickly got annoyed and instead of fighting for it, drew a couple uneven holes around him, cutting through the brambles enough for him to slip through unscathed.

"Hey!" He gasped again once he'd tumbled into camp. "Everyone, run!" But when he stood up, the camp, at first glance, looked totally empty. "HELLO?" He yowled. He ran desperately around the perimeter of the camp, breaking into dens, clawing his way into the nursery, destroying nests in his desperation. "HELLO? ANYONE?"

Where was his stupid Clan?! Smokepaw ran the perimeter again. Had everyone taken off running to protect themselves?

 _I think the world's ending!_ He thought as he raced out of camp again. He looked in the direction of the destruction, toward ThunderClan territory, and saw the orange glow of fire far in the distance, a great plume of smoke erupting into the sky overhead _. Yup, it's ending alright._

"HEY!" He continued to yell as he raced through the forest. Where would his Clan have gone? How would they have had enough time to get everyone together and leave once those cracks and booms started? It all happened so fast!

They wouldn't have gone in the direction of ThunderClan – that would have been beyond idiotic. The lake was dubious too, the destruction seemed to be coming from that whole side of the forest. RiverClan territory was the likeliest bet – it was the opposite direction of the destruction with less tree cover, which meant less danger of falling trees and better visibility.

Impressed with his detective work, Smokepaw dashed for RiverClan territory as fast as his lanky paws could carry him, bellowing the names of his Clanmates the whole time. At one point, a jagged grouping of rocks pointing toward the sky and blocked his path, so Smokepaw used his paw to draw the boundaries of another blank hole, and pushed it with his other paw into the rocks themselves, which then disappeared into the hole above where he'd cut it. It was like he wielded some sort of hyper-destructive, effortless blade that could not only cut through anything and everything, but also served as a sort of miserable portal into nothingness and sucked in whatever was in his path.

Smokepaw sprinted across the small Thunderpath into RiverClan territory without thinking or looking twice. When he glanced across the lake, he could see a literal river of smoke – several of them – emerging from ThunderClan territory, and the edges of ShadowClan territory, too. Darn! What was going on?

For a moment, then, he froze mentally, and his frantic dash withered to an awkward stagger. He thought of the void that had opened up at him when the earth cracked in front of his paws. The deafening splits in the ground.

Had he caused this?

Had this horrible ability of his somehow retroactively spread to a global scale and initiated the destruction of the forest?

The ground swayed under his paws, but metaphorically this time.

No matter what, he had to get out of here. He had to run and not stop running until he was so far away he couldn't find his way back. He was nothing but a lethal weapon. And he wasn't worth hurting any more Clan territory, or worse yet, his Clanmates.

He just had to go.

Panting frantically, he willed himself to keep running.

RiverClan territory was unfamiliar, but he followed the stream to find their camp. As he emerged over a gentle ridge he spied it – tucked into the bushes and marshes by a fork in the river. He scented the air for cats, but smelled none. From here, the camp looked empty, so he ran closer.

He could suddenly make out two figures standing at the edge of the camp side by side and staring inside. Smokepaw raced closer, and then stopped. It was two young cats, apprentices.

"HEY!" He yowled.

They both looked up at him.

"HEY!" He went scrambling and racing toward their side of the clearing. "RUN! You gotta get out of here!"

Both stared at him wildly. Smokepaw came to a staggering halt, and he realized it was the black and white cat and the silver gray one he'd seen not long earlier, peering at his space holes.

"Uh…" Smokepaw stared between them both. "Are you RiverClan cats?"

"No," said the black and white one, and the silver one said, "Yeah."

"You…you guys gotta get out of here," Smokepaw panted. He gestured wildly at the forest fire that had overtaken ThunderClan territory behind them. From here, the booms and cracks of the destruction Smokepaw had experienced could still be heard. "Do you see ThunderClan? It's heading our way. You gotta clear out."

"That's where we _just_ came from," the silver she-cat said, a note of snark in her voice. _Ooooh-kay,_ Smokepaw thought silently, mentally rolling his eyes. "We came here to look for my Clan, because ThunderClan is missing."

"And RiverClan's missing too? So is ShadowClan." Smokepaw peered into the empty camp. "What on earth is going _on?_!"

"Are you…" The black-and-white tom was poking at the ground near Smokepaw's feet, and Smokepaw instinctively took a big step away from him. "Are you making this stuff?" He was pointing at the holes that had appeared under Smokepaw's destructive paws.

"Long story." He said.

"I'm a time traveler!" Chirped the tom, sitting up straight, beaming with excitement, as if the world wasn't totally ending all around them. "I'm Rainpaw, by the way. And this is Rosepaw, she's invisible."

"…look pretty visible to me," Smokepaw mumbled. Wow, these two sounded like literal kits who took their dumb fantasy games a little too seriously. _I'm a time traveler!_ Yeah right. "Well, I gotta go look for my Clan, so, it's been real, but, bye. Peace."

He dove around the two apprentices, even though Rainpaw yowled, "HEY WAIT!" far too loud to be necessary, and started toward Twolegplace and the Thunderpath. World ending or not, he was going to have to learn to be a rogue anyway, so why not start now.

Before he could get decently far, Smokepaw heard a quiet crackle of lightening behind them, and turned around to look, afraid he would see another sort of destructive terror emerging, but instead, he just saw a sparkle of green light appear in the air between himself and the other two apprentices, and a moment later, a white silhouette of a cat took its place, which turned into a real cat, a dark-gray she-cat with long, fluffy fur, appearing before the three of them with a pop.

Smokepaw stared, gaping. Rainpaw gaped. Rosepaw gaped.

The she-cat smiled widely and swished her tail energetically.

"Hi guys!"

 **Finally! The four have come together! Hopefully these wacky apprentices can all get along and work together XD. In some/several chapters in the future their POVs will be broken up within the chapter, instead of one chapter per apprentice, to move things along faster.**


	9. Entropy

_The Land Between, Chapter Nine_

The four apprentices engaged in a hearty stare off for a long time.

Rainpaw and Rosepaw sat beside each other, gaping blankly at the dark-gray apprentice before them, who was still waiting with an eager smile and swishing tail. Farther away, the grouchy russet ShadowClan tom stood mid-run, staring at her too.

"Uh," the she-cat decided finally. "Sorry I'm late. I was napping, and it went a little long."

"Sorry, but who are you?" Rosepaw asked, breaking the silence. "Why are you here?"

"I'm Jadepaw!" She enthused.

"Jadepaw!" Rainpaw echoed excitedly. "That's what your name is! Oh, good to know. This is Rosepaw, she's my new RiverClan friend, and over there, that's…" everyone turned to stare at the ShadowClan tom. "Hey, what's your name?"

"Come over here!" Jadepaw joined in, waving her tail at him. "I've been waiting so long to meet all of you!"

"Um, okay," the tom mumbled, wandering toward them warily. "I'm Smokepaw, I guess."

"Hi Smokepaw," Rainpaw mewed, and Jadepaw said, "Hi Smokepaw!" So Rosepaw decided to say, "Hi."

"Hey…everyone." He tilted his head sideways and gave Jadepaw a bemused look. "Uh, did you just _teleport_ here?"  
"Well, I _jumped_." She purred. "I can teleport lots of places! I teleport all the time. This might seem creepy, but I've kind of been jumping around spying on all of you for the last few days."

"Kay." Smokepaw laughed shortly. "Well, I was just leaving." He turned around again.

"Where are you going?" Jadepaw begged innocently.

"Dunno." He shrugged and looked between the three of them. "Not here. Sweet though this has been."

"Hey, you can't _leave_ …" Jadepaw padded after him. "I've been so excited to meet all of you!"

"Why?"

"Why…?" She seemed totally baffled that he would even ask. "Because you're in all my dreams!"

"That's creepy." Smokepaw decided.

"If I said I was a medicine cat apprentice, would that make it less creepy?"

"A little."

"Okay, because…" Jadepaw turned to face everyone. "Do you guys not realize what's going on here?"

Everyone said "No", except Rainpaw, who said "Not really".

"Yeah," Rosepaw chimed in. She'd been pretty quiet the whole time, because she really got uncomfortable around a lot of cats, especially cats she didn't know, and especially when her Clan thought she was dead, _and_ they had all disappeared, _and_ the forest was self-destructing around her. "No offense, Jadepaw, or whatever, but I know for myself at least, and Rainpaw too, that things are pretty bleak and horrible now. I mean, ThunderClan is literally up in flames behind us, everyone I've ever cared about thinks I'm dead, and I have a stupid horrible power I can't turn off."

"Yeah, you could dial it down a notch," Smokepaw mumbled in agreement.

Jadepaw flattened her ears. "Fine. I guess it's just…my dreams for the last moon have been foretelling the destruction of our universe and the coming together of four chosen apprentices with unique and limitless abilities. And now you're all here and I'm so excited about it!"

"To do what?" Rosepaw meowed.

"Well, to make a new one, obviously!"

"To make a new _universe_?" Rainpaw reiterated.

"Ooooooooh no." Smokepaw groaned. "Oh no, no, no, no. No way."

"What!" Jadepaw demanded.

"No. I am so not interested in hearing about this." Smokepaw stood up. "Just, no. Wow."

"You don't want to hear about our adventure?" Jadepaw mewed in a little voice.

"Nope." He shook his head.

"Oh man, this really isn't going the way I imagined…" She meowed sadly, sitting down.

"Hey!" Rainpaw barked suddenly, getting to his paws. He came and stood beside the she-cat. "Everyone stop being such negative downers and listen to what Jadepaw has to say! It's not like any of us have anything to lose! Look. We all discovered some totally screwed-up power that ruined our lives, right? And now the forest is burning down, and our Clans have disappeared. But we're all here together! The four of us! Even if we're from different Clans, the fact we have all this in common, and are the only ones here right now, means something!"

Smokepaw's ears pricked up a little. Jadepaw smiled shyly. Rainpaw set his jaw. He really was so funny, Rosepaw thought. She wished she'd known an apprentice like him in RiverClan, back when all that mattered.

"Thanks," Jadepaw sighed. She got to her feet too. "You guys, our destinies are written into the fabric of reality itself! We are integral in the propagation of existence, at least for Clan cats, and cat kind in general, and our universe!"

"…"

"See, each universe exists in a constant state of entropy," She meowed. "It goes from creation, to destruction, and then back again, into infinity, over the course of time units way too big for any of us to fathom! Which is great. Creation to destruction, and then destruction to creation. Right now, our universe is at the very tail end of destruction to creation – and at the very end of its lifespan, it's spawned us as its creators! And it's our job to create a new universe for the energy that this one has gathered over its lifespan, so that that universe can begin its path from creation to destruction."

"What happens when it reaches destruction?" Rainpaw demanded.

"Umm, we'll be long dead by then, so I wouldn't worry about it," Jadepaw said flippantly. "Besides, that's not our job! I'm sure the universe we create will find a way to propagate its destruction the same way it's propagates its creation – through us! So all we have to do is go with what's required of us, and hone our powers and use them to build a new universe for everyone! Isn't that so great?"

"…" If the other three apprentices hadn't been gaping before, they sure were now. Smokepaw smacked himself in the face with his paw and held it there.

All of a sudden, Rosepaw burst out laughing. She laughed so hard she fell on her back, belly up, rolling around on the grass in loud meows of mirth. Jadepaw stared at her quizzically, both her and Rainpaw inching away to give her room.

"Hahaha!" Rosepaw gasped. "Hahahaha! I'm sorry! It's just! So! Funny!"

"What's so funny?" Jadepaw asked.

"My life!" She howled. "It's just so funny how ridiculous and insane my stupid, petty, meaningless little life is! I'm a boring, simple, miniscule CLAN CAT APPRENTICE! And this is all too funny to even be serious! I swear, every passing second of my life these days only serves to remind me how TOTALLY, COMPLETELY DEAD I AM! AHAHAHA!"

"I don't know," Rainpaw shrugged, watching her idly. "I can time travel and totally wreck everything. I'm buying it."

Rosepaw was still laughing. She couldn't get over it. Jadepaw's peppiness, and Rainpaw's naïve eagerness, and whatever Smokepaw's deal was. It was just too much.

"Anyway, go on!" Rainpaw directed Jadepaw. "I want to know what this all means!"

"Well, I _think_ it means the world is about to end," Jadepaw said thoughtfully. "Only in the traditional sense, though, like this place is going to be blown into nonexistence pretty soon here. But the energy and life of this universe is by no means ending! We have to carry it safely over into a new one. So technically it's not really ending at all."

"No, that's ending alright," Smokepaw retorted calmly.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Rainpaw begged. "That's WAY too much responsibility! I can't even get basic time travel right!"

"With our powers!" Jadepaw meowed. "How else do you think, silly? Duh. Let's see, there's me…I can teleport anywhere I want at any time. As of yet. I think that's just the basics though. I'm like pretty positive my power has something to do with manipulating physical space and location, but, it's just teleporting for now.

"Rainpaw, you can time travel. We already talked all about that. Whatever we have to do to preserve our existences, I'm positive time travel will be integral. You have a great power."

Jadepaw turned to Rosepaw. "Rosepaw, you can go invisible, right? I think."

"I _disappeared_ ," Rosepaw said. "That's all I know."

"Yeah. But _we_ can all see you. So I'm sure your powers are much more than just disappearing. And Smokepaw…"

Smokepaw looked up at her like he was bored.

"You're basically a force of pure destruction," Jadepaw said. She seemed very excited talking about it. "You're by far the deadliest cat in the known universe right now."

"Aw…are you serious?" He lamented. "That's the lamest thing I've ever heard."

"Seriously?" Rainpaw cut in. "That sounds awesome! _I_ want to be a force of pure destruction!"

"No, it's stupid."

"Shh!" Jadepaw shushed them both.

"It is stupid, though, unless you want to go around casually destroying the fabric of reality everywhere you go," Smokepaw mewed. "And turning perfectly harmless butterflies and tufts of grass into holes of totally nothing."

"The point, Smokepaw, is that that's not all you are!" Jadepaw interrupted, like she couldn't stand to watch him keep saying the things he was saying. "Those things you make aren't holes, they're _gateways!"_

"What." Smokepaw mewed.

"Yes, they're gateways, they _lead_ places!" She said heatedly.

"…where?"

"That's up to you and everyone else! Those gateways can lead anywhere you want in or out of any universe, in all of time and space!"

Smokepaw's yellow eyes got really round. "Uh…why?"

"Why do you know all of this?" Rainpaw asked Jadepaw innocently.

"She's obviously some kind of magical star cat, stop asking dumb questions," Smokepaw deadpanned, and Rosepaw felt herself snicker.

"My dreams!" Jadepaw enthused, fighting to stay in charge of the conversation before Smokepaw and Rosepaw devolved it into some sort of sarcastic snark-off. This team was going to be a _disaster,_ Rosepaw could already tell. "My dreams have been taking place on this really beautiful planet made of white sand and pastel light! And there're all these runes there, and I've done nothing but study the runes for the last moon, and every day more runes are made available to me, and I've tried to learn as much as I can, because clearly none of you are having my same dreams on that planet! Which is weird, because you sleep in a tower right across from me, Rainpaw!" Jadepaw took a big breath.

"I do?" Rainpaw asked.

"Yes! You've been sleeping all of the last moon on your tower right next to me, and I wish you'd wake up, but you won't! Maybe it's a medicine cat thing that I'm actually awake on that place, but I bet you could be too, if you tried, and you could study the runes with me!"

"I'm lost." Smokepaw proclaimed loudly. "Are we almost done here?"

A whiff of wood smoke entered Rosepaw's nose, and she looked around wildly to see that ThunderClan had disappeared into a plume of smoke and red flames, and that ShadowClan was well underway. "Guys…" she mewed. "Should we be addressing that?"

"Yeah." Jadepaw said grimly. She nodded toward the hills of WindClan territory. "Look, WindClan is falling apart too. You can feel the earth cracking from here." She sighed. "I really hope Daisyleaf is alright."

"So we should get going…right?" Rainpaw looked between everyone.

"Where?" Rosepaw asked.

"We've got to get out of here," Jadepaw informed them. "I mean, literally out, we've got to get out of this universe before it blows to smithereens and we're all vaporized, or worse."

"What about our Clans?" Rosepaw demanded.

Jadepaw shrugged.

"Why are you shrugging? I have two little sisters!" She had to sit down heavily to keep herself from getting upset.

"I don't know what to tell you," Jadepaw sighed. "I think they are safe, but I just don't know where they are. They aren't _here_. They're already ahead of us, in that regard. What we need is Smokepaw to create us one of his gateways so we can get out of here."

"No way," Smokepaw laughed out loud. "Those things are like crevices to the Dark Forest, I swear. There's no way myself, or anyone else, is jumping into one of those."

"I believe, unpaired with any other location, right now they lead to the limitless space outside of any universe at all," Jadepaw meowed. "Which is _exactly_ where we need to go right now. So, can you please…?"

"No." Said Smokepaw. "Okay, just, no."

"Time is running out," Jadepaw urged him. "This place is going to be destroyed. That fire, and the ground falling apart like that, that's nothing compared to what's coming."

"No." Smokepaw said stubbornly. "Ugh."

"What?" She pressed.

"I don't want anything to do with this. I don't want to have a power, or have a destiny, or save the stupid universe, or be a hero, or any of that stuff. I don't. I don't care."

"You have to do it, buddy," Rainpaw mewed. "We're all going to die."

"I am not your buddy," Smokepaw growled. "And no. And I am _definitely_ not subjecting any living, breathing cat to the wrath of those forsaken hole – _gateway_ – things."

"You have to, though," both Rainpaw and Jadepaw pushed.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Do it, Smokepaw."

"No."

Rainpaw shook his pelt back and forth and sighed. "Uh…listen…guy…Smokepaw…we don't have a lot of options here, and I for one don't want to be vaporized into nonexistence in a second."

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Because it's stupid, this is stupid, I don't care what you, or the depressed cat, or what magic mystical star pixie over here says, it's stupid and I'm not doing it." Smokepaw shook his head hard. "I get that you're…kind of the gung-ho, adventure, _yay save the Clans_ , type of tom, but I'm not, and I never was, and I don't want to be."

Smokepaw raised his head suddenly and his eyes flew wide, his pupils retreating to pinpricks. For just a moment, his face was overcome by staggering emotion, but he quickly wiped it away. Rosepaw looked where he was looking, and saw ShadowClan territory behind them.

Even from the other side of the lake, she could see it – an enormous crack had split the territory literally in half. Fallen trees had split and were tumbling into the gigantic crevasse that displayed itself clearly for the four apprentices to see, gaping into the heart of the black earth. It took several seconds for them to actually hear the cracking boom, and it was so loud the entire ground shook and continued to shake until all four of them were knocked off their paws. When Rosepaw sat back up, and looked back at ShadowClan territory, she saw a shoot of fire race through the trees on the far side of the split, sending trees and underbrush aflame.

Smokepaw looked away. "Hmm." He said. Then he got up and walked away at a meandering pace, in the direction of ShadowClan territory. After half a dozen fox-lengths, he sat down in the grass, and he didn't move.

Jadepaw turned a worried expression to the Rosepaw and Rainpaw. "Should we go talk to him?" She mumbled.

"I don't know, he doesn't seem that easy to talk to," Rainpaw muttered. "I doubt he needs our consolation."

"Yeah. He'd probably just bark at us anyway." Jadepaw sighed.

Rosepaw glanced between them, and then internally set her jaw, stood up, and picked her way down the grassy slope to where Smokepaw was sitting. She went slow, doubting herself. Maybe Rainpaw and Jadepaw were right that the tom was better on his own.

She sat down slowly beside him when she reached him. He didn't look at her. In his bright yellow eyes, the fires in ShadowClan territory were reflected.

"Are you okay?" Rosepaw mumbled.

"Yeah fine."

"It sucks," she agreed lamely. "I mean, it must suck so bad watching your home get ripped apart. Half the reason I want to get out of here right away is so I don't have to watch it happen to mine."

"Eh." Smokepaw shrugged. "I don't care that much. I was going to leave anyway."

"Why?" She asked.

"Just was." He shook his head. "I wasn't cut out to be a Clan cat."

"Yeah, me neither." Rosepaw sighed.

"Why not?" He turned to look at her sitting next to him.

"Oh, just everyone hated me and my mom was dead," She meowed flippantly.

"Huh." Smokepaw turned back to ShadowClan territory. "My brother's dead."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine, actually." He shrugged again. "Don't really care. It's about time he stopped ambushing me in the middle of a totally normal and acceptable nighttime snooze."

"Ha," Rosepaw laughed. "Honestly, I can't get off this universe quick enough."

"You really believe all that mousedung Jadepaw spewed?" Smokepaw asked. "We're not creating a new universe. She's a kooky medicine cat apprentice with her head in the clouds."

"I don't care," Rosepaw assured him. "I just want to leave. I'll go through a spooky gateway no matter where it leads, as long as it's out of here."

"Noted," Smokepaw mewed.

Between the two apprentices, it got quiet. Out of the corner of her eye, Rosepaw could see Jadepaw and Rainpaw side-by-side, staring down the hill at the two of them, their impatience palpable from over here. An enormous old tree in ShadowClan territory, engulfed in flames, suddenly ruptured with a crack and went tumbling down, flinging sparks and smoke.

"Alright." Smokepaw said suddenly. He stood up. "Let's get going."

Rosepaw followed him up the hill to the other apprentices.

"So," Smokepaw asked Jadepaw in a bored, flat voice. "What do I do."

Jadepaw's face lit up. Her fluffy dark tail lifted into the air. "You make us a gateway!"

"Alright." He sighed. "Stand back."

Jadepaw, Rainpaw and Rosepaw gave him a wide birth, clearing a generous circle around him. Smokepaw set his paws, digging his claws in and out of the grass. He took a deep breath, held it, and began to slide his paws across the ground, walking backward and drawing them apart as he did so.

Under his paws swelled an enormous black hole, that grew larger and larger than the diameter of his paws into a round empty disc a fox-length long. Smokepaw stopped moving, hopped backward, and all four approached carefully to peer inside.

"There you go, magical she-cat," Smokepaw remarked to Jadepaw, who seemed visibly shaken by the presence of the hole, her ears back and her fur ruffled. "There's your giant gaping abyss in the ground."

"No offense, Smokepaw, but these things are really spooky," Rainpaw observed.

"They're cool." Rosepaw said. "But let's not waste time. Who wants to go first?"

"We'll go together," Jadepaw decided. "It'll be safer. We'll all hold onto me – that way, I can teleport all of us away if we run into danger, or if we're about to land somewhere and all break our necks."

"Which seems likely," Smokepaw observed.

"It does." Jadepaw agreed grimly. She stepped forward, and the other three began placing their paws against her pelt, lining up along the lip of the hole. Rosepaw felt the emptiness within like it was sucking at her mind.

Jadepaw looked back and forth at the others, and, with a grim nod, they all stepped forward into the darkness.

 **Thanks for all the reviews, guys! I really appreciate it! It made my day several times over to log in and see them all. You guys are great. :D**

 **About the chap: Smokepaw and Jadepaw are the extreme polar opposites of this little team, so they're obviously going to butt heads a lot lol. And Rainpaw and Rosepaw are somewhat milder in the middle. Action will pick up in the next few chapters, I promise. I just finished drafting out like the next 20 chapters and it's going to get really complicated :D. Thanks,**

 **~Delaney**


	10. Vacant

_The Land Between, Chapter Ten_

Rainpaw smacked face first into a dune of soft sand. He toppled, spun over and over, rolled until his back was numb, skidded through fox-length after fox-length of fine yellow sand, and finally jerked to a halt, belly up, paws in the air and half buried in the stuff.

"Hurgh…" he moaned, trying to take little sips of breath. His back felt like it'd been stomped on. "Hewp."

The back of his head was buried in sand, so he only moved his eyeballs for now, and saw a swirly, hazy green sky above him. A dense, heavy atmosphere, like the sky was permanently expecting a rainstorm, but there were no clouds.

"Um…help…?" He mumbled, fighting against the grip of the sand. He finally regained his strength enough to pull himself out of it and stumble onto his own four paws. The sand's suction was unreal. His black and white fur was chock full of the stuff, too, even after he shook out his coat. It was going to take a while to get it all out. When he closed his jaw, he felt its grit between his teeth.

Rainpaw started to walk. He followed the trail his body had made when went he went skidding across the sand dunes. He looked all around.

He was in a strange and beautiful place.

An empty place, more than anything. As far as his eye could see, he could see rich yellow sand in low, lifting dunes, stretching to the horizon. Occasionally, it was interrupted by flat mesas of deep blue and magenta rock that stretched all the way up to the sky, towering above him, with bushy foliage growing at the base. But other than that, the sand was all-encompassing.

The air was fresh and warm. The sky was green, which was weird, but whatever. Rainpaw scanned for the other apprentices. "Hello?!" He called. His voice instantly disappeared in all the expanse, no echo whatsoever. "Jadepaw? Rosepaw? Anyone out there?"

When they'd first jumped into Smokepaw's hole together, Rainpaw had tried to hold onto Jadepaw's dark fur, but was pulled away almost instantly along with everyone else and they were all separated, for the longest fall of Rainpaw's life. But he'd landed relatively unhurt.

He started to walk, choosing a direction and sticking to it. He thought maybe he should keep his guard up, but the place really seemed pretty vacant and safe. It kind of felt like the most empty, blank place in the universe. Or the not-universe. Wherever they were. Where were they?

"Jadepaw?" He called as he walked. He really hoped he found her before anyone. She was definitely the most likely to know what was going on. He'd really rather not run into the bitter ShadowClan tom. He was _such_ typical ShadowClan. Rainpaw really hoped the two of them could limit their–

Oh.

At the bottom of a sandy hill, Smokepaw was picking himself up, shaking sand out of his paw pads. He looked up with bright yellow eyes and saw Rainpaw standing at the top. "Hey." He said.

"…hey." Rainpaw mumbled. He stalked down the hill. "Have you seen the she-cats?"

"Nope." Smokepaw gave his russet fur a gentle shake. "Can't be far."

They both started off together, side by side, but a few tail-lengths apart. They walked for ten or fifteen minutes and Smokepaw didn't say a single thing. He stayed stoic and aloof the whole time. Not a flicker of emotion on his young deadpan face. It was so awkward. Rainpaw cursed his bad luck. Why did their team have to have such cool she-cats and one totally unbearable tom?

"So," Rainpaw meowed finally. "You more of a hunting or fighting type of guy back there in ShadowClan?"

"Fighting."

"I bet." sighed Rainpaw. "I wasn't really much of either, honestly. I sucked at hunting and I never even got to give fighting a shot."

"Hmm."

"So it must be kind of a ShadowClan thing to launch apprentices into battle training right away?"

"Nope."

"…" Rainpaw scanned the horizon. Thankfully, on a blessing, he saw four ears poking over a distant sand dune, and then two cats came into view, Jadepaw and Rosepaw, walking side by side. Jadepaw bounded ahead when she saw them.

"Hey guys!" She called. "We made it!"

"Where are we?" Rainpaw asked her immediately.

"I honestly don't know!" She seemed totally happy to be there, though. "It's so _barren_ here! I like that it's so empty and open, though. It reminds me of WindClan a little."

Rosepaw was sitting with her tail around her paws, staring up at the sky, which was growing increasingly bright. "What's that in the sky?" She asked.

The other three all looked up. Far above, an enormous white moon seemed to orbit on the other side of the bright green sky. The light illuminating the sand around them seemed to be coming from the moon. It was so big, it filled almost half the sky.

"It's kind of colorful," Jadepaw mewed, squinting. "It reminds me of the place where I've been having my dreams."

"We should get moving," Rosepaw decided. "I bet if we walk a ways, we'll run into something that helps is figure out where we are."

The four fell into a motley formation, led by Jadepaw and Rainpaw, with Rosepaw behind, and Smokepaw tailing the rear. At first, everyone walked with a spring in their step, leaving four trails of pawprints in the yellow sand. They chatted energetically together, save for Smokepaw, talking about their Clans, their mentors, their friends, and what the differences between their Clans were like. Rainpaw had to admit, it was pretty sweet. Usually you would never hear firsthand from a cat from a rival Clan what their Clan was like on such amicable terms. Maybe at a Gathering, but even then, it wouldn't be the same. It really felt like they were becoming friends.

As they walked and talked, nothing interrupted the flow of sand except the sparse rocky outcroppings that towered occasionally into the sky. One would appear on the misty, distant horizon, and then very slowly, as they traveled, come into view until they were able to walk past it's hulking mass. At one point, Rosepaw stopped to sniff around the foliage at the base, and identified the smell of vole, and caught two. She was by far the best hunter.

"Can we eat them?" Jadepaw asked, poking at one of them. "Are they real voles?"

"I don't know, but I'm hungry," Rainpaw decided, biting into one of them. It tasted exactly like any other vole he'd eaten, so the four apprentices consumed them and carried on.

As the bright, sunny moon was sliding from the sky, the sand morphed to a deep maroon. The sky began to darken. Conversation between the four had dwindled to silence, as each was feeling the sway of exhaustion. Rainpaw's paws ached. He was so tired, he just wanted to lay down and sleep.

"Maybe we should stop and rest…?" Jadepaw asked after it was clear the exhaustion was setting in for all four of them, and the colorful moon had slipped out of the sky.

"Seconded," Rainpaw agreed, flopping down on the sand.

"I don't feel comfortable stopping until we have some sense of where we are," Rosepaw meowed. "We have _no idea_ where we are. What is this place? Why are we here? How do we even know we're in the right place?"

Rainpaw looked up. Where the moon had disappeared, and darkness was falling swiftly over the sandy land, another had begun rising, sliding into view to take the place of the other. But instead of being bright and full of light, and illuminating the land like an ordinary sun, it plunged the place into a gloomy sullen darkness – the moon itself was a deep purple-blue, the exact same size as the colorful one, rising into view.

"Oh…how creepy…" Jadepaw mewled, flattening her ears. The moon gave the cats' fur a hazy blueish hue, and the sand as well.

"Hey, what's that?" Smokepaw asked all of a sudden, the first words he'd spoken in hours and hours. He nodded to the horizon, perpendicular to the direction they'd been traveling.

Rainpaw turned to look. Far in the distance, almost invisible on the dark, misty horizon, there were some symmetrical, contrasted shapes, unlike the big rocky outcroppings they'd been passing. On a silent cue, all four cats rose and started toward it, now with renewed energy. It took almost forty five minutes to reach the shapes, and Rainpaw felt like his paws were numb.

As they approached it, Rainpaw saw an enormous round disc laid in the sand, parts of it smeared in stray smudges of red sand. It seemed to be made of a dark, shiny stone. It was flat and perfectly round but enormous, probably a five minute walk to travel all the way around the perimeter.

Rosepaw stepped up onto it, and Rainpaw followed, Jadepaw and Smokepaw in tow. At the very center of the enormous dais, a small, circular structure rose, standing about a fox-length high. As they walked toward it, Rainpaw looked down – on the part of the dais where they walked was an enormous symbol carved into the stone – a circle with two triangles forming a simple hourglass shape inside. One triangle was colored in, the other merely an empty outline.

Rainpaw looked around the dais. It appeared to be divided into four quarters. Another symbol was on the quarter to his left, but he couldn't make out what it was. The same was true to his right.

Rosepaw was the first to reach the structure in the middle. Here, the four quarters met together, and the structure had four indents carved evenly into the side of it, one for each quarter, with the carved symbol of a pawprint inside, and the same symbol that was carved hugely into the quarter above it.

Jadepaw hopped on top of the structure's flat surface, so Rainpaw did too. It looked like there was a round opening on the middle of it, but it was covered with a slab of stone. There whole thing was coated with runes – hundreds of tiny symbols strung together, but they were too small and confusing to make sense out of.

"What does it say?" he asked Jadepaw.

"I have no idea," she mewed, tracing one line of runes along the structure's round perimeter. "I can't read it."

"I thought you were the one studying the runes in your dreams and stuff," Rainpaw said.

"Yeah, but not these runes! Those runes were simple pictures of cats doing stuff. This is like…some weird language. Can you understand it, Smokepaw?"

"Are you joking?" He meowed. "I doubt this even says anything. It's just gibberish put here to look spooky."

"No, this definitely means something," Jadepaw retorted. "It's just that none of us knows what."

"Seriously?" Rosepaw meowed all of a sudden. She was sitting with her tail over her paws next to the structure, peering up at the runes. "I know what it says."

"…you do?" Rainpaw and Jadepaw mewed in unison.

"Yeah, it's obvious!" Rosepaw stepped closer to the nearest line of runes, which round around the perimeter of the structure.

"Well, what does it say?" Smokepaw asked.

Rosepaw took a deep breath, and began to trace the runes around the structure, reading aloud with such passion and pressure, as if she'd been possessed.

"At the very heart of the Great Void, far removed from the conception of any known universe, in a mysterious and powerful pocket of space known as Create Space, there exists a world called Creare, around which orbits a planet of light and color, Anima, and her brother, a planet of darkness and shade, Animus. While Anima and Animus represent the forces of good and evil, Creare is a blank, empty canvas that waits to accept whatever input its chosen creators provide."

Smokepaw, Jadepaw, and Rainpaw all exchanged each other shifty glances. But Rosepaw wasn't nearly finished. She hopped on top of the structure to keep reading.

"To bring forth a new universe, Creare must be given three things from its creators: their prints, their genetic matter, and the each individual creator's knowledge of their own truest qualities and uniqueness; spilled upon this sand, which is receptive to all and any input, and uses such as building blocks for the new universe. If evil and corruption dominates this sand, the universe will be a place of darkness and struggle. If goodness and strength dominates, it will be a place of kindness and joy."

Rosepaw lifted her head, took a huge breath, and sat down hard. "I feel weird," she mewed.

"That was really cool, Rosepaw," Rainpaw said.

"It really was," Jadepaw agreed. "Maybe you have a new power!"  
"Reading creepy old runes? I'll take it." Rosepaw mewed. She lifted her head, peering over the heads of the other apprentices. "This whole place…" she said, jumping down off the center structure. "This whole dais makes perfect sense when you look at it!"

She strolled hurriedly away from the structure, deeper into the quarter from which they'd approached, and she came to a stop at the circle-and-hourglass symbol Rainpaw had noticed. "Time." She meowed. She walked, fast, to the next quarter, and the other three had to rush to keep up with her. Here, an equally large carving showcased a round circle encircled in a narrow oval, like the rings of a planet. "Location."

Rosepaw kept up her driven walk. They were really getting their exercise on this thing, Rainpaw thought. On the third quarter, the symbol was two interlocking spirals – one that ran into the other. "Manipulation." Rosepaw mewed. She almost ran to the last quarter, where there was carved a very simplistic drawing of an eye – an ovular opening with a single, narrow pupil drawn in the middle. "Psyche." She sat down and looked up at the others with a smile. "This one is mine!"

"Do I have one?" Jadepaw gasped, her fur almost bristling with excitement.

"Of course!" Rosepaw meowed. She pointed with her tail at the quarter opposite hers. "You're location, obviously!"

"What about me?" Rainpaw asked.

"Time!" Rosepaw beckoned to the hourglass symbol.

"…so I'm manipulation." Smokepaw chimed in. "Oh man…why…"

"This all makes perfect sense!" Rosepaw was really excited. She flounced back to the structure. "I think that we're the creators the rune is talking about! And we have to…we have to…" She looked all over the structure like she was searching for something, then stared at the pawprint indent corresponding with her quarter, and bravely stuck her paw in.

The carving of her symbol began glowing behind her, a brilliant blue until light was shooting into the sky. Rainpaw rushed to do the same beside her, in his quarter, and Jadepaw and Smokepaw followed suit. Even Smokepaw didn't need any coaxing. Rainpaw's symbol glowed red, Jadepaw's bright green, and Smokepaw's a brilliant orange.

At the top of the structure, the slab blocking the hole in the middle slid open, revealing an empty cylindrical space inside. The light grew brighter and brighter until Rainpaw had to squint. A wind picked up, seeming to come from the center of the structure, and then spinning away from them, whisking sand into the air and throwing it all over the dais and into the cats' faces until it had become a deafening roar.

And just like that, the lights disappeared. The wind stopped. Rainpaw lifted his paw. The pawprint symbol had been replaced by an idly blinking red light. The same was true for the others.

"Did…did we do it?" Rosepaw mewed.

"What were we supposed to be doing?" Rainpaw asked.

"It said it needed our prints, I thought…"

"More than anything, it seems like we broke it," Smokepaw said. "Look, it was revving up to something big, something really cool and mystical and supernatural or whatever, and then it kind of shut down."

"That's not necessarily true, we have no idea how this thing works!" Jadepaw said. She leaped on top of the structure, and looked into the cylindrical space that had opened. "It looks like something is supposed to go in here…? So the rune says it needs our pawprints, and…our genetic matter?"

"What is that?" Rainpaw asked.

"Rosepaw, do the runes say anything else?" Jadepaw asked her.

"No…" she shook her head. "That's it."

"It also says it needs for us to know our truest qualities and uniqueness," Smokepaw growled. "Which is really, really stupid, because I have no idea who I am and have no idea what the best parts of myself are, if they even exist."

"I'm sure you can figure it out!" Jadepaw assured him. "I think it's written in such an open-ended way so that you can define what that means in whatever way you want."

"No it doesn't," Smokepaw snorted, aghast. "Are you joking, pixie cat? This is the exact reason I didn't want to come along and participate in this. What are we going to do now, try and figure out the right way to 'taint the sand' with the best parts of ourselves to somehow, in some inexplicable, cosmic way, which will retroactively inspire this stupid dais to just sort of spit out a new _universe?_ Not to mention that 'genetic matter' sounds vaguely inappropriate in regards to anything four seven-moon-old apprentices are supposed to know anything about. This is the stuff I hate. Stupid, vague runes that are supposed to 'lead' you in the right direction and 'hint' at where you need to go so you can do the 'growing and discovery' yourself. And when the stakes are this high? I mean did you guys _hear_ what Rosepaw read? If we screw this up in any way, and 'corrupt the sand' or whatever mousedung that means, then we're creating an _entire universe_ full of misery and despair."

"That won't happen!" Jadepaw assured him. "We're all really good cats!"

"Oh yeah, you are!" Smokepaw barked. "You and your 'location' powers and your almighty prophetic StarClan dreams, and thinking confusing runes and vague adventures are really fun and challenging, and running around like everything is just so fun and great all the time."

"Why are you so negative!" Jadepaw spat. "Why can't you let this be okay! What did any of this ever do to you?!"

"I never wanted to come along in the first place!" Smokepaw snarled. "Are we forgetting that little piece of information now? I knew – I _knew_ this was what we were getting into, this exact type of stuff, and that was exactly why I didn't want to come. I'm not a hero, I'm not an adventurer, and I certainly don't have what it takes to be this amazing, stellar, pure-hearted, pillar of power and goodness type of cat that can literally _create a new universe_! And if that's not going to be okay out here – being...being _not that_ , being _less_ than that, then how am I even going to…? What if I can't even control…?"

"Ugh!" Jadepaw cried. "Ugh, I can't – I can't _stand_ you!" She leaped off the structure and strode quickly to the edge of the dais in her quarter, where she sat down heavily, hanging her head.

Smokepaw turned away, whiskers furrowed in a frown, out of breath. Rosepaw and Rainpaw looked at each other uncomfortably.

"…should we go talk to her?" Rainpaw mumbled.

"I don't know," Rosepaw sighed. "I feel like if we do, it's like we're picking sides, and it'll drive apart our team. We have to be on the same log, you know?"

"Yeah." Rainpaw sighed. "Man, this stinks."

"It does." Rosepaw agreed.

Smokepaw had gotten up, and was wandering slowly away in the direction of his quarter. He sat down gingerly on his symbol; the two spirals. It was very quiet out here. The sand was motionless. The dais reflected the purple-blue of the strange dark moon orbiting overhead.

"I just want to see my Clan," Rainpaw sighed. "Now more than ever. I want to split a fat squirrel with Blackpaw outside the apprentice den and then sleep knowing that…knowing that in the morning, Sagewing will come wake me up, and it'll be an ordinary, ThunderClan morning in the forest, just like every other morning, and I'll get to go train with my friends."

Rosepaw nodded sadly beside him.

"But I have to admit…" Rainpaw trailed off thoughtfully. "In a certain way, I'd rather be here with cats I can talk to, than be banished from my Clan in a destroyed timeline, and forced to watch from afar."

"It sure is lonely like that," she agreed.

All of a sudden, the structure beside them made a sound like stone sliding over stone. It was loud enough that both Smokepaw and Jadepaw turned to look.

"Uh…" Rainpaw and Rosepaw met eyes. Rainpaw hopped on top of the structure. He peered inside the cylindrical space. At the very bottom, something had been revealed. A set of runes he couldn't understand, lit in the same red light as the lights blinking over the pawprints. It seemed to be moving.

"Rosepaw…" he called. "Come check this out."

Rosepaw leaped up beside him. Jadepaw and Smokepaw were heading over quickly, obviously curious enough to abandon their dispute. They joined Rainpaw and Rosepaw on the flat surface of the structure.

"What does it say?" Jadepaw whispered.

"It's a countdown," Rosepaw finally spoke. "Uh…"

"…?" The other three waited anxiously.

"It says thirteen days," she mewed. "Twenty three hours, fifty nine minutes, and eight seconds."

Rainpaw raised his head and made uncertain eye contact with the others.

"And it's counting down."

 **Dun dun dun! Things are moving now! Thirteen days...until what? Any guesses? Predictions? What do you think of the message in the runes Rosepaw read? I just finished drafting the rest of the story, got some new music…next chapter the adventure starts full swing!**

 **~Delaney**


	11. Anima

_The Land Between, Chapter Eleven_

Jadepaw woke with the rise of the colorful moon. As soon as the shimmery pastel light touched her face, her eyes opened. When she saw it poking over the distant, sandy horizon, she'd never felt more relieved. Mostly because it meant the gross purple darkness caused by the other, far worse moon was finally gone.

If her estimation was correct, it seemed that both the day and night were the same length. Not like back on Earth, where the day was considerably longer than the night. Here it was really an even split. Which meant she had to make the most of the daylight she had!

The four apprentices were curled up around the central structure of the stone dais. After bickering about what the mysterious countdown meant for like two hours, they finally crashed from sheer exhaustion. Rainpaw was sleeping curled on his back with his paws tucked up in the air like a dork, Rosepaw snoozing in a calm silver loaf, and Smokepaw curled in a tight circle, his back to the others, on the other side of the structure.

Jadepaw walked to the edge of the dais and stepped off, onto the red sand. They had a big day of exploring ahead, and it would be good to get a head start. She looked around for the pawprints they'd left when they traveled here yesterday, but couldn't find any. It seemed they'd mysteriously disappeared! Which sure would make it hard to get any bearings about where they were on this strange blank planet.

"Hey, where are you going?" Came a voice behind her. Jadepaw looked around, and Rainpaw was heading after her.

"Hi, Rainpaw," She mewed. "I thought it was a good idea to get a head start while we've got decent lighting and start looking for clues."

"Clues?" He meowed. They began to walk off into the sand, leaving the dais and the other two apprentices behind them.

"Yeah, like more runes or more structures or something," Jadepaw said. "Hopefully some clues as to if our Clans are here or not, and what the runes on the dais meant, like what it needs from us so we can get to work on the new universe as soon as possible. I really feel like that countdown isn't a good sign! My gut keeps telling me to hurry and act urgently."

"Me too," Rainpaw sighed. "Well, not really, I don't think I have a gut that tells me _anything_ , but I agree it probably isn't a good sign."

"I hate to say it…" Jadepaw mewed, "Well, I hate to say it because I hate to deign _anything_ that tom says with any validity, but I think Smokepaw might have been onto something when he said the structure may have shut down while we were putting our paws in it. Which really sucks."

"That does really suck." Rainpaw agreed. "Well, maybe we can get started on some clue-hunting before those two losers wake up!"

"Yeah!" Jadepaw mewled. They picked up the pace. "I'm also really hungry. I guess we could head over to that rocky outcropping there and look for some voles, but as a medicine cat apprentice, hunting is pretty much something I've never even touched on. Especially since I was only made an apprentice like a moon ago! But I'm sure you could catch something? Since Rosepaw isn't here. Or we could just wait to eat until she wakes up."

"Actually, I have to admit…I've never caught something before," Rainpaw said. "I was a pretty sucky warrior cat apprentice! The _other_ Rainpaw turned into a good hunter, but not me because…I…" He trailed off.

"You what?"

"Hey, Jadepaw." He stopped in his tracks. "Whoa."

Jadepaw stopped too and stared where he was staring. On the other side of the small crest of sand they were climbing, she could see a figure lying in the sand. She began to approach. It was a cat, a small, jet black tom. As she got close, she smelled the metallic reek of blood she'd grown accustomed to as a medicine cat apprentice, and upon further inspection, the fur around his chest was slick and sticky, and the sand under where he lay was clumped and wet.

"Whoa," Rainpaw said again, and he even touched Jadepaw with his tail to stop her approach. She peered, and saw that the sand directly under where he lay, and where the blood was touching, was pulsing a faint white. "Why is it pulsing like that?"

As curious as she was, Jadepaw didn't have time to speculate. She dropped to a crouch beside the wounded tom, and stroked his shoulder with his paw to arouse him, checking for consciousness. "Excuse me…mister tom? Can you hear me? My name is Jadepaw, I'm a medicine cat."

His eyes flew open at her voice, and searched wildly around him for a moment before spying her. "Help. Help me." He rasped in a little voice, and tried to struggle in the sand.

"Don't move," Jadepaw warned him. "Do you know how you got here?"

"No," he whispered.

She identified the wound on his chest as severe, probably fatal, and her stomach felt sick. "Rainpaw, can you come here and help me put pressure on this? Hurry."

Rainpaw sat beside her, looking sicked out, but he did as she said.

"Can you tell me your name?" She asked him.

"ShadowClan," He meowed. "Run. Run."

"Are you from ShadowClan?"

"Am from ShadowClan," mewed the tom. His eyes kept darting around wildly. He was _terrified._ She could even smell his fear.

"Did something happen to you? Do you know how you got this wound?" Jadepaw continued to search his pelt. Behind his left ear, on the side of his head that was lying against the sand, she identified a deep laceration in his skull. The blood had congealed and was drying at the edges – some time had passed since the injury.

"I'm going to die," he mewled. "It's danger. Run."

"What danger?" Jadepaw asked. "Can you tell me any more?"

The tom was shaking with fear. Her heart went out to him so bad it was overwhelming. She could barely handle it. "It's going to kill me." He looked right at her. "Where am I?"

"You're on…" She trailed away. As soon as he'd uttered it, his eye began to glaze. "No!" Jadepaw yelped, as Rainpaw increased the pressure on his chest. She pushed on his flank with both paws, trying to retain a heartbeat, but he was quickly slipping away. Within moments, he'd passed.

"Oh nooooo," Jadepaw wailed. "No, no, no, no…"

"It's okay," Rainpaw whispered.

"I failed." She dipped her head so her face couldn't be seen.

"He was fatally wounded," Rainpaw attempted dismally. "I don't think there's anything you could have done. Who was this cat? Was he really from ShadowClan? Maybe Smokepaw knows who he is?"

"Don't show Smokepaw." Jadepaw mumbled. "He's already messed up enough as it is."

"But this means our Clans are here somewhere," Rainpaw insisted. "Whatever happened to this tom, at least it means our Clans are here!"

"I feel so bad," she whispered.

"Jadepaw…"

"He was so scared. Did you see that? That was awful."

"He was going to die either way," Rainpaw said. "There wasn't anything you could do! And you tried your best!"

"Rainpaw." She mewed. "I just need a minute to be sad."

In the corner of her vision, a shadow streaked across the sand, small and turning quickly larger as it approached. Jadepaw lifted her head in time to watch something soar from the bright, colorful sky above them, casting a small shadow on the sand many fox lengths beneath, zoom into view, and land carefully on the sand several tail lengths away.

Rainpaw dropped into a crouch, fur spiked, baring his teeth, but Jadepaw sat neutrally, watching it approach. She saw it was a cat – full grown, but a cat like any other, but not one she recognized from any Clan. She didn't seem to be a Clan cat at all, it was evident in the way she moved, the sheen to her perfectly white, pearly fur. She saw the dead body of the tom and approached slowly, ears back.

"Oh, darn." She stared at the dead tom and sighed. "Charybdis never was any good at saving everybody."

"What?" Jadepaw asked. "Who are you? Do you know what happened to him?"

"I don't know what happened to him specifically, but I can make some educated guesses. He is one of your associates, correct?"

"Associates?" Jadepaw and Rainpaw exchanged a look. "He was a Clan cat, if that's what you were asking. But not from my Clan. But he was from our universe, so that means he was a friend! And now he died."

"It really is sad," sighed the white she-cat. "I'm so sorry for your loss. But…I may be able to help you. I'm Scylla, by the way. I'm the queen of Anima."

"Anima?" Jadepaw asked, eyes round. "Like in the rune Rosepaw read? What _is_ that, exactly?"

"Anima?" Scylla's face lit up. She lifted her head and pointed her nose at the bright colorful moon in the sky above them. "Why _that's_ Anima, of course! A wonderful land of light and color!"

"That's Anima?" Jadepaw begged. "Jeez! That makes so much sense! And that spooky blue planet – that must be Animus, right? Anima's brother of darkness and shade?"

"Of course!" Scylla purred. "Are you two…oh my. You two must be creators, aren't you."

"Creators?" Rainpaw and Jadepaw meowed together.  
"Yes! The ones tasked with building the new universe! Is that you?"

"Yeah!" Jadepaw said exuberantly. "Yes, that's us!

"…Jadepaw?" Scylla asked her "And Rainpaw?"

"Y…yeah." Jadepaw and Rainpaw met eyes again. "How did you know?"

"Because you're the princess," Scylla said to Jadepaw. "The princess of Anima! And Rainpaw, the prince."

"I'm a princess?" Jadepaw gasped. "I don't even know what that is but that's awesome! Oh jeez! I don't know what to say!"

"That does sound really awesome, but I think there are more important things going on right now," Rainpaw interrupted her excitement. "Like: do you know where our Clans are, for StarClan's sake?!"

"Some of them are on Anima!" Scylla responded calmly. "They are alive and safe, under our domain. Whichever Clans correspond to you two, they are up there with me."

"So ThunderClan and WindClan?" Rainpaw asked.

"That sounds right," smiled Scylla.

"What about ShadowClan and RiverClan?" Jadepaw gestured to the dead tom. "No offense, but this dead tom here is really alarming! It makes me think ShadowClan is in trouble or something!"

"ShadowClan is fine. Charybdis gets ahead of himself, is all. They are alive and well on Animus, as well as RiverClan. There's no need to worry. It's an incredibly dangerous process moving an entire civilization of associates from their universe into Create Space – and I'm guessing this poor tom was a causality."

Jadepaw dipped her head. "May he rest in peace…"

"Can we see them?" Rainpaw asked. "Our Clans? I'd love to see everyone again. And I guess, if they're really here in this crazy place with us, I don't have to hide anymore! Oh boy. I can tell them that I can time travel, and sure, there are two Rainpaws, but I'm here saving everyone and I'm going to make us all a new universe! It'll be great."

"Not yet," Scylla answered. "They are still adapting to the move. They don't have the crazy powers you creators have been endowed with! Most of them, you probably won't see until you build the new universe and have crossed over."

"The problem is…" Jadepaw meowed, getting to her feet, "We have no idea how. We used our paws on the dais, to activate it, or whatever, but it seems like everything broke, and we have no idea what the next steps are."

"I can help you," Scylla answered "That's what I am here for! As the queen of Anima, it is my job to guide you young creators in the way of creating a new universe, which, let's face it, can be a really difficult undertaking with heaps of responsibility. Your next step involves a visit to Anima. Would you like to?"

"Would we…would we _like_ to?" Jadepaw could barely speak. "Of course we would like to! Right, Rainpaw? Oh please take us to Anima! I want to see so bad!"

"Yes, I would like to see Anima as well!" Rainpaw agreed. "And I think a short day trip to a mystery planet with a helpful queen guide will definitely give us the clues we need."

"Follow me, then!" Scylla mewed. She turned and walked away from the dead tom, heading in the direction she'd traveled from. "And feel free to ask any questions you might have."

"Uh, first of all, miss queen cat…" Rainpaw mewed. "Can you fly? Or did I imagine that?"

"Of course I can fly!" Scylla jumped into the air, but instead of falling down, she hovered like that, a tail length above the sand. "And if you play with your prey right, you'll be able to fly too!"

"Really?" Jadepaw gasped. "Oh, man, I knew this adventure was going to be everything I ever dreamed and more!"

"It can't just be the two of you," Scylla asked after they'd been walking for a while. "If you two are both from Anima, then there must be others in your team who are from Animus. Are there some other creators with you, as well?"

"Smokepaw and Rosepaw," Jadepaw mewed. "They're the moody, snarky, kind of depressed ones. But they're okay! I'm sure they'll come around."

"Sounds like Animus, alright," Scylla giggled. "As you can see, all creators are assigned to one planet or the other, based on their innate temperament and skills, and what they'll bring to Creare as the blueprints for the new universe."

"But isn't Animus the moon of darkness and shade?" Jadepaw asked. "The rune said that what you stain the sand of Creare with determines what sort of universe you create, like if it's bad or good. If Smokepaw and Rosepaw are from Animus, does that mean they'll bring darkness to Creare? Aren't we supposed to all work together to make it good, and _not_ dark? That doesn't sound right."

"Oh, but it does!" Scylla assured her. "For there to be good there must also be evil. Anima and Animus represent those two forces. But being from Animus doesn't necessarily make someone evil, just like being from Anima doesn't make someone good! There are always far more factors at play that determine what constitutes good and evil. In this case, you enter Create Space already set as either a creator from Anima or a creator from Animus, and that defines the challenges you will face in defining yourself as a creator, and discovering what you need to bring to Creare to create the new universe. But without the balance of both good and evil, a universe could never sustain!"

"Huh." Jadepaw meowed. "I think I get it. That's really cool! But I have to admit, I'm glad I'm from Anima. I'd rather face challenges having to do with being inherently good than I would having to do with being bad. Not that Rosepaw and Smokepaw are necessarily bad. Well, maybe Smokepaw is. But whatever."

"Do you know where your teammates are?" Scylla asked. "I think it's in everyone's best interest if we bring all of you together and stay together. It would be great if they could rendezvous with you two on Anima and I could help guide all four of you at the same time."

"Well, last I remember they were sleeping on the dais…" Jadepaw mewed. "But that was a while ago now. I'm sure they've moved on. If anything, they're probably looking for us!"

"I think it's very important we find them," Scylla said. "And keep everyone together."

They had reached something on the sand in front of them, floating upright, like a doorway. It looked like an enormous circle sitting in space, absently waiting. "Huh…" Rainpaw said. "This kind of looks like those holes Smokepaw makes."

When Jadepaw approached and peered in, she realized, unlike Smokepaw's gateways, this one appeared to clearly lead somewhere, because on the other side, she saw white, sparkly sand, a pool of colorful pastel water off to one side, plush yellow and gold clouds, and a stone structure made of pastel-colored blocks of stone. She gasped.

"Is…Is this…?"

"Well, go on through!" Scylla urged her, whiskers twitching.

Jadepaw stepped through the gateway, her paws landing on the silky sand of the colorful planet on the other side. Her fur stood on end. She could barely breathe. She was, decisively, on the planet of her dreams – the sandy pastel wonderland she so loved to explore.

"But this is…" she mewled. "This is where my dreams take place!" She whirled to look at Scylla, standing carefully on the white sand, almost blending in completely with her white fur and sparkly gray eyes. "You mean to tell me my dream world _is Anima?"_

"Mhm!" Chirped Scylla. "All creators' dreams take place on either Anima or Animus. Both of you have a piece of your spirit preserved in a temple at the center of Anima, and when you fall asleep in real life, your spirit wakes up here. Except some creators…" her eyes slid sideways at Rainpaw. "…have a little trouble with the waking up part."

"Well, can I meet her?" Jadepaw gasped. "The part of my spirit who lives here?"

"Oh no, that cat only exists in theory!" Scylla said. "She has no physical body or form, only that which can be seen by herself when she's dreaming, or by the spirit of the other creator she dreams with – in this case, the spirit of Rainpaw."

"But he's been asleep," Jadepaw mewed. "All along."

"I had no idea about any of this," Rainpaw said stubbornly. "I've never really had noteworthy dreams my whole life."

"Rainpaw may be able to wake up, but it's not expressly necessary for completing your goal on Creare," said Scylla. "There are many purposes your spirit can serve, and only a few require actually being awake during dreams."

All of a sudden, Jadepaw couldn't help herself. She had to run. She went sprinting down the white sand dune, scattering sand, looped around a stocky colorful tower, leaped over a shimmery pastel stream, and charged back up to where Rainpaw and Scylla were watching her in amusement. It was so much better than her dreams. This was real. All of her senses her on alert, registering the beautiful land around her.

"Thank you for finding us!" She cried to Scylla when she'd returned, while Rainpaw looked on. "Thank you for helping us! Wow, I really think everything's going to work out!"

"I still want to know how to help the Clans," Rainpaw mewed. "Seriously. I know you said it was a fluke and all, but that dead tom still doesn't sit right with me."

"Yes, you're right." Scylla's face grew serious, like she was getting down to business. "Follow me. We're headed to my palace right now."

They trekked across the white, fluffy sand. "So, what exactly is the deal with the Clans?" Rainpaw asked. "How did they get into Create Space with us?"

"They were transported here just prior to your arrival," Scylla explained. In the distance, a set of pastel structures loomed. "You see, only certain things can be salvaged from your old universe and passed into the new one. Your old universe's destruction is imminent and inevitable – in fact, everything but your planet has already been destroyed, annihilated into nonexistence. But your planet, and your associates – in this case, your Clans – are brought with you into Create Space, and it's up to you if you can complete the dais's instructions correctly and bring your Clans with you to the new universe."

"So where are they now?" Rainpaw asked.

"I believe ThunderClan and WindClan are in the heart of Anima," Scylla explained. "While ShadowClan and RiverClan are in the heart of Animus. And for the time being, they are safe."

"The time being?" Jadepaw asked.

They'd reached the palace Scylla spoke of. A pastel river wound along the outside of it, but Scylla crossed overly calmly on a blue stone bridge. Jadepaw and Rainpaw followed closely as they were lead into the first of the structures, and wound through towering halls and towers after Scylla, all bathed in the shimmy pastel light from outside. At the center, they reached an enormous tower with stairs that wound all the way around the inside – up and up for what felt like eons. And at the very top, was a room full of bright light, patterns and runes on the floor, nests made of woven fur and fabric spread across the stone ground.

"These are my quarters," Scylla purred. She nodded to a pile of freshly killed rabbits and mice along one side. "Help yourselves. I'm sure you must be hungry."

"Starving," Rainpaw assured her. Both him and Jadepaw dashed forward to snatch some fresh-kill, and began to gorge themselves, talking with Scylla the whole time. Jadepaw told her all about how their adventure had begun – finding her teleportation powers by jumping from a tree, meeting up with the others, traveling to Creare. She couldn't wait to get back to the other apprentices and tell them everything she'd learned! They would probably be so stoked. With Scylla's help, this whole new universe thing was going to be a breeze, she could just tell.

Once they were finished eating, and the conversation had wrapped up, Scylla stood to escort them to a sleeping area that was waiting for them, and they started all the way back down the long, winding stairs. Rainpaw followed closely behind Scylla, talking about his Clan, while Jadepaw pulled up the rear, too stuffed and tired to amble closely behind them.

While she was walking, she thought she saw something from the corner of her eye, on the steps behind her, winding up to her left, and she turned around. At first she thought she'd imagined it, but then she saw a cat phase into view, standing awkwardly on the stairs a ways behind her.

Jadepaw turned around and began to run back up to go see the cat. "Hello?" She meowed. He continued to stand stiffly on the stairs. As she got closer, she realized she recognized him. It was Duskpaw! The obnoxious apprentice always getting himself in the medicine cat den for stupid reasons. Even though she'd never been sure about him back in WindClan, she was so happy to see him now, that her heart swelled, and she raced up to him.

He had his back to her, like he couldn't see her arrive. "Hey!" She mewed, coming to a stop on the step below where he stood. "It's so good to see you!"

He turned around slowly, stiffly.

"Good evening and thank you very much," He mewed in a weird little voice.

"…what?" Jadepaw asked, flattening her ears. "Huh? Hey, it's me! Jadepaw!"

"Very nice to meet you and you're looking very well." He smiled blandly and didn't meet her eyes, instead stared slightly to the left of them, slackly, with a dull, glazed expression.

"Are…are you alright?" She asked. "Duskpaw, it's me! Jadepaw!"

Duskpaw froze. His eyes went wide. Now, he looked right at her. Their gazes locked wildly. His eyes, which had seemed dull and empty an instant before, were filled with frantic, desperate, terrified light, pure, horrified recognition of exactly who she was before him.

"Duskpaw?"

He started to shake, trembling at first and then it turned into violent convulsions, enough to almost send him slipping off the stairs and plummeting to his death far below. He kept his eyes trained on her, so big and round they were turning bloodshot.

A line of blood trickled out of his nostril. He shook like crazy. Jadepaw cowered in horror.

"Get out." He stammered, in a tiny little voice.

 **Hmm…what's wrong with Duskpaw? Gah, sorry these chapters keep getting longer and longer. This story is more complicated than I was anticipating. Lots of lore explained in this chapter, what do you think? What's the deal with Scylla? Tell me what you think! :)**

 **Important terms defined, in case you got lost in all that worldbuilding:**

 **Creare – the sandy red and yellow planet with the stone outcroppings where the apprentices first landed**

 **Anima – the planet/moon with the white sand and pastel colors that brings light to Creare**

 **Animus – the dark planet/moon that brings purple-ish light and darkness to Creare**

 **The dais – the round stone slab and structure broke into quarters for each creator, located on Creare**

 **Create Space – the space that all of this/all these planets are contained in, outside of any universe**

 **~Delaney**


	12. Stalemate

_The Land Between, Chapter Twelve_

"Got some!"

Rosepaw's voice traveled across the smooth surface of the dais to where Smokepaw lay curled on his side by the stone structure, awaiting her return. She hopped onto the platform and trotted in his direction, two mice closed in her mouth. She dropped one before him.

"Hey, thanks," He meowed, forking it over with his paws. "Looks like you've got your work unwittingly cut out for you. Team hunter."

"As well as being invisible, and reading spooky runes?" Rosepaw asked, chomping into her mouse. "Where do you think they _are,_ anyway? Jadepaw and Rainpaw? It's late morning by now."

"Oh, look at all this cool stuff, look at this boring endless sand, and depressing green sky, and lame platform thing," Smokepaw mimicked in a high pitched voice. "Oh Rainpaw, let's look around for more cool stuff because clearly this place is full of it and obviously none of this is boring!"

Rosepaw giggled, but then wiped it off her face like she felt bad. "You're being too hard on her. Obviously this is all a dream come true for her."

"Obviously," Smokepaw echoed. He picked at the mouse with his claws. "Hey, it's good we've got her on our team. Someone's gotta care about all this stuff if we're literally going to create a new universe."

"Yeah…" They ate in silence, but Smokepaw had lost most of his appetite, even though he'd barely eaten at all in the last several days. There was something about food that just seemed kind of…repulsive to him. He used to love food. It was too bad.

"I'll leave the rest of this for Jadepaw and Rainpaw," he decided finally, sitting up straight.

"You sure?" Rosepaw asked, licking her chops. "So you're content to just sit and wait for them, then?"  
"Yeah." Smokepaw yawned and stretched. "I'm sure they won't be long."

Overhead, the bright, pastel moon had risen high in the sky, brightening up the bleak sand of Creare. Smokepaw watched it for a while. It was…too bright. Like it was insisting on having its presence acknowledged. He really preferred the dark purple moon that had risen last night. Not like any of that mattered.

He went and sat in the meager shade provided by the dais's central structure with the moon directly overhead. Behind him, Rosepaw perched on top, studying the runes, mumbling softly to herself.

Smokepaw closed his eyes. Behind his closed lids he saw a flurry of frantic, stressed activity, a bunch of trees collapsing and the thunderclap of the earth opening beneath him. As he dozed off, the activity intensified, turning more nonsensical and scattered until it squabbled itself into blackness and he began to open his eyes.

His lids felt heavy, even though he didn't feel sleepy, it just felt difficult to open them. So difficult. When he finally did, he saw hazy purple and blue structures around him, cool stone under his fur, and he sat up, opening them wide, in time to find himself perched on a narrow tower inside a shady, insidious temple –

Smokepaw forced his eyes open with a gasp, leaping into a sitting position. The stone dais under him was unchanged. The red sand coated the bleak horizon.

"You okay?" Came a voice. Rosepaw slinked around the structure to where he sat.

"Yeah. Really weird dream." Smokepaw shook out his fur. He looked up at the sky. The colorful moon was starting to sink, slowly tugging darkness over Creare, and he realized he'd slept longer than he'd intended.

"I think we should go look for them," Rosepaw meowed nervously. "This doesn't feel right. It's been almost an entire day…or, whatever a day can be measured as with these equally split light-dark phases going on. I can't see either Jadepaw or Rainpaw intentionally just taking off on us."

"Yeah, with their gung-ho team spirit and everything," Smokepaw muttered. "I guess you make a good point."

Rosepaw leaped on top of the structure again. "I was studying the countdown in here. I believe last night, when we activated it, it started counting down form precisely fourteen days. Now, it's at about thirteen, because that was close to twenty-four hours ago now. I feel _very_ nervous about this. And it's not just me being paranoid, which is something I do do, I'll admit it, it's…something else. It's almost like there's this big piece of my brain that's _screaming_ about this. Like screaming at me to _pay attention_. And it doesn't feel good at all."

"Yeah, that's pretty sketchy." Smokepaw observed.

"Whatever it's counting down to can't be good, from our present standpoint," she said. "And I don't feel comfortable waiting and not acting. It arouses too many spooky, fundamental questions. Why fourteen days? Why that unit of measurement? Why have a countdown at all?"

"But we have no idea what to do," Smokepaw shrugged. "Jadepaw was the only one with a shred of a sense, and she's gone AWOL."

"So let's go find them." Rosepaw set her jaw. "Look, I know you don't care about any of this, and I certainly don't to the degree Jadepaw does, or even Rainpaw, but I can't ignore this thing in my head. And if you don't want to come, whatever, but I'm going to go."

"No, I'll come with you." Smokepaw stood up. "I'm not going to willingly let you go off alone and get yourself in danger. I'm not a monster. Well, not a complete monster. I'm kind of a monster."

The two of them followed the time quadrant to the edge of the dais and stepped off, assuming that'd be the most likely route the other two apprentices must have taken, because that was the direction they'd approached from yesterday. Smokepaw started scenting the air and the sand, but found nothing, absolutely nothing, even though no wind had blown all day to mask their scent.

And it wasn't that he didn't smell the other apprentices, it was that he didn't smell anything at all. The sand itself was odorless. The air was empty. It was like everything had been constructed from pure void.

They walked for a long time, wordless. Smokepaw almost suggested splitting up, but he sensed Rosepaw was too nervous, and secretly, he kind of was too. Creare gave him these weird, wary creeps he couldn't really describe. Overhead, the dark purple moon rose in full swing.

"So…you really don't like to talk a lot, do you?" Rosepaw asked finally.

"It's not that…" Smokepaw mused. "It's just I prefer silence, and anything else I find insufferable."

Rosepaw laughed. "You were like this back in ShadowClan, too, I'm guessing?"

"Kind of…" He titled his head to the side, actually considering it. "I mean, things were kind of different then, like I was never really that stressed out and I didn't feel like foxdung all the time. And things were just…eh. I don't think I miss ShadowClan. I don't know what it is. Whatever. It doesn't really matter anymore, I guess."

"Yeah." Rosepaw sighed. "I don't really miss RiverClan either. I mean, if all of this, the whole new universe and everything we have to figure out how to do, if that's to find and save our Clans…I don't know if I want to save mine? I mean I do, and I will, because they're cats and my friends and they deserve it and all, but…I guess, if I had my first choice, I wouldn't have to go and live with them."

"Hmm." Smokepaw said, considering. "So, anyway, do you think you're turning into some sort of psychic or something?"

"Huh? I don't think so."

"Well, you said the quadrant for 'psyche' was yours, pretty decisively, and you could read those runes for some reason, and you were talking about getting a weird sixth sense about the countdown…"

"Maybe. I mean it's possible. I do feel like my abilities have kind of been evolving and changing since I got here. I don't even know if I'm invisible anymore. Technically, if you guys can see me, and we're not in our old universe anymore, does it even matter if I am or not? You know?"

"Yeah." Smokepaw said. "I guess I relate to that. Like, I noticed pretty quick upon being here that my paws aren't wrecking everything as I walk anymore."

"Oh, you're right!" Rosepaw turned to look at the trails of pawprints they'd been making in the sand. "You aren't making all those little holes!"

"Yeah. So maybe it's more of a deliberate thing now," he said. "That I have more control over? But I don't really care. It's really just a relief. I have literally zero intention of ever using my powers."

"Seriously?"

"Yep." Smokepaw looked straight ahead. In the distance, something was vaguely visible on the horizon. "Using them will never be a thing ever again."

"Jeez…" Rosepaw mewed. "I was getting kind of excited about mine."

"Good! Not me." Smokepaw nodded at the horizon. "Something's there."

They walked a little closer. Smokepaw squinted in the purple darkness. "I think…I think that's the dais. We made a big circle."

"Oh, mousedung." Rosepaw spat, sitting down heavily. "I'm so fed up with this stupid sand!"

"Yeah, sand's pretty lame," he agreed. Out of the corner of his eye, a shape flitted past. Immediately, a lifetime of aggressive ambushing and hypervigilance flooded Smokepaw's entire brain, and he dropped into a defensive stance, fur all the way up, teeth bared, ears back, emitting a loud snarl. Rosepaw, obviously dumbfounded about what had happened, shakily mimicked his stance.

"Rrrowr!" Smokepaw snarled. Another dark shape flashed by, and, despite his calculated surveillance, he found himself ambushed from behind, from a different dark form. The one he'd been tracking ambushed Rosepaw just as he was bowled over and pinned hard into the sand.

"Hey, idiot!" spat his attacker. Smokepaw fought hard to turn over and see, and saw a cat…or something. It smacked him over the head before he could get a good look, causing his ears to ring. He felt himself being dragged across the sand, and began to struggle, only to get another rough whopping from his assailant. "Stop fighting! You can't do anything!"

Smokepaw was so dizzy he could barely figure out which way was up. He could smell Rosepaw, however, and another scent…something powerful and funky and distinctly alien to anything he'd ever known. He distantly saw a big purple stone being pushed aside, felt himself being dragged down a sandy, stony slope into darkness. His attacker stepped away. Rosepaw's fur was all pushed against him.

His head swam like crazy. He managed to sit up, swaying his head back and forth to try and bring his location into focus, get it to stop flipping around like crazy. Whoever had attacked him had hit him hard. Even Snakefur had never done this level of damage. But even in his compromised state, he could tell whoever it was, had certainly not intended to kill.

"No, no, take all the time you need!" Someone was saying, a different voice than his attacker's. "It's not like we're all on a cosmic countdown or anything! Good Sept Lord, how long does it take you guys to get your bearings? That was like getting struck over the head with a fur pillow!"

"Shut up," Smokepaw managed to snarl. He could hazily see two figures a fox-length away, sitting and staring at him and Rosepaw, who was lying beneath him. "I'll rip your throats out."

"You guys are IDIOTS!" Yowled the same speaker. "What on Aster would possess you to walk around Creare in _broad daylight?!_ SO STUPID! Ugh, you're lucky we were here!"

"Who are you?" Smokepaw growled. Beside him, Rosepaw was rising to her paws, blinking dully. His vision finally cleared, though his head pounded.

He was in a large underground den, what seemed to be a cave under the sand, the same reddish color as the sand above. It seemed to be lit by little piles of sparkly white sand that was glowing brightly in the darkness. As he peered around, he saw smaller tunnels leading off to other cave areas. "Where are we?"

The two figures looked at him. Smokepaw looked at them. He…he wasn't sure what he saw. At first he saw two cats, side by side, but then his brain second guessed itself. One cat, the one who'd been talking and insulting them a moment ago, was a bright, deep orange, but not like the orange cats he was used to in the forest, this was a pure, unbridled orange, like the embers of a fire. It was so weird. He appeared to be a tom. His eyes were bright orange. And the more Smokepaw peered…the more he realized the cat wasn't covered in fur at all, but tiny, miniscule _feathers_ instead. And running down the length of his spine, all the way to the end of his long tail, little crooked ridges, like spiked horns, seemed to emerge from his fur…er…feathers.

"Hello." He said flatly at Smokepaw's obvious staring. "Yeah, nice to meet you, whatever. I don't know what your name is and I don't care. I'm Rust, and this is my friend, Rye. And we need to have a word with you two."

The other creature looked similar to the first, except her pelt was a deep, cool, yet brilliant, blue instead of orange. Another unnatural color that looked totally wrong on a cat…thing…but whatever. The ridged little horns on her tail stuck up long and straight. "Yo." She spoke darkly. By her voice, Smokepaw could tell she was the one who'd attacked him, and his fur prickled.

"What are you?" He growled. "You aren't cats, are you."

"We…aren't cats?" Rust laughed in shock, like he was hearing something stupid, which was basically the way he'd been reacting to everything so far. "Of course we're cats, you stupid head! What do you think a cat looks like?!"

"Like…us?" Smokepaw mewed.

"I pity the universe where a cat looks as pathetic and defenseless as someone like you." Rust growled. "Where are your feathers? Where are your tail spikes? How do you even fight? No wonder you were so easy to take down."

"Rust, can we get to the point here?" Rye interrupted him. She was watching Smokepaw stonily, her narrow blue eyes in long, glittering slits.

"Yeah, sorry." Rust sighed. "Look, morons. You're creators, right? Yeah, obviously. We're creators too, we're from the previous team that was here before you guys arrived and reset everything, so now we're trapped here. Just like you will be. Especially if you walk around Creare in broad daylight like a couple of kittens dropped on their heads!"

"Whoa…what?" Rosepaw asked, on her feet beside Smokepaw now. "You said you're from a previous team of creators?"

"Yeah." Rust barked. "Whole different universe, different Anima, different Animus, different deal going down on Creare, whole different _new_ universe. Theoretically. We failed at that part."

"So Create Space doesn't exist just for us?"

"No!" He spat. "You aren't the only creators to exist! Create Space, and Creare, are like a big bus stop! Do you know what that is?"

"No," said Smokepaw and Rosepaw in unison.

"Oh boy." Rust laughed sarcastically. "This is going to be even more difficult than I feared. A bus stop is a big place where buses full of Tallwalkers pick up and drop off lots of Tallwalkers! And that's what Creare is! It's just a big bus stop for universes at the creation end of their entropy cycle to drop off their creators so they can create their new universe and move on! One universe, one set of creators go through Create Space, it resets, brings in another set, resets, rinse, and repeat! Got it?"

"No," said Smokepaw.

"So…you guys are from another universe." Rosepaw observed calmly. "You two…you're what cats are in an alternate universe ."

"Hit the nail on the head, genius." Rust sighed.

But Rosepaw didn't look at all perturbed by his hostile, impatient attitude, even though Smokepaw found him pretty unbearable. "Wow," she meowed. "Awkward as this meeting may be, I would love to sit down with you and talk about our respective lives! All the similarities and differences between us…I mean, it has to be fascinating!"

"Who cares!" Rust sighed. "None of that matters anymore, furball!"

"Rosepaw."

"None of that matters anymore, Rosepaw! That would be the lamest conversation ever, and totally contradictory to what we're trying to accomplish! Right, Rye?"  
"I agree it sounds quite lame." Rye said darkly.

"Did you guys live in a forest too?" Rosepaw carried right on, not caring whatsoever. "Were you divided into Clans?"

"No, we lived in a city full of Tallwalkers and their cars and buses on a powerful and awesome planet called Aster," Rust said dead-ly. "I have no idea what your planet was called, and I don't care, because it's probably stupid anyway. And what the hell is a Clan? That sounds like the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"We lived in Septs." Rye chimed in.

"That sounds stupid." Smokepaw provided.

"Okay!" Rosepaw yowled, interjecting dramatically. She'd almost moved to stand between Smokepaw and the mystery cats. "Rust." She addressed him directly. " _What_ is going on here. What do you mean you're trapped here? Why can't we walk around Creare?"

"What's going on here is that you two idiots are the reason everyone is going to die and why everything is so screwed up," Rust growled. "And I hate – _hate_ – having to watch a new batch of naïve, bright-eyed creators stroll around this wretched place exploring all the _wonder_ and _lore_ and meanwhile dragging the rest of us long-suffering, mega-doomed creators into an even worse fate of death and misery. Guess what, star-eyes. You're never going to create a new universe, trust me, that's off the table because it wasn't ever even _on_ it, sorry, and you're all going to die here, just like us, so don't even bother."

"Uh…" Rosepaw and Smokepaw met eyes. "So we're in danger?"  
"Yeah, you're in danger! In fact, let me take a moment to offer my humblest sympathies that you were the poor saps picked as the propagators for your crappy universe, because it would have been a lot quicker and less miserable to be obliterated into nonexistence like the rest of it."

"All of this steaming and raging isn't helping us," Smokepaw said flatly. "Trust me, _bro,_ I definitely don't care enough about whatever it is you're trying to explain to us to actually sit here and suffer through this weird one-cat-rant you're staging. So if you don't start talking to me like a regular cat – which I'm going to assume you are, because just by using the name 'cat' to describe yourself and your freaky species, you better hold yourself to the certain standard of basic decent behavior that the rest of us have to. Okay?!"

Rosepaw was staring sideways at him, eyes round. "Whoa." She mewed.

"Yeah, I think you're laying it on unusually thick," Rye said to Rust. "Our guests, frail and simple-minded as they may be, don't deserve this verbal flogging you're giving them."

"Fine!" Rust spat. "Fine. I will stopper my built-up, totally justified resentment long enough to explain the gist of what I have to say. Because it's actually really important."

"Go." Said Smokepaw shortly.

"Alright." Rust sighed. "My team arrived here quite a while ago, exactly how you guys did. We explored all over Creare, learned all about Anima and Animus and creating the new universe, got to work trying to accomplish what the rune on the dais wanted and then…things started going wrong. Create Space revealed it's true nature as a dark cesspool of evil and garbage. It was really complicated and a lot of bad stuff happened, blah, blah, blah. And then the timer ran out and our old universe was destroyed. And that was it. We failed. We missed our chance to fulfill the rune and build the new universe. And a little while later, Create Space wiped out everything having to do with us – and started over for the four of you, because that's what it does. It's ruthless. It doesn't care if you fail. And now we're trapped in Create Space forever and we're going to die, and so will all of you."

"Why do you say we're surely going to die?" Rosepaw asked calmly. She sat down, tail wrapping around her paws.

Rust took a deep breath, and let it out in a melancholy sigh. "Because Creare is in stalemate. It's under lockdown. It was for us, and it is for you guys, too. Which basically means it's not going to create a new universe for you. Even if you do everything right, the pawprints, your unique traits and strengths, your genetic matter – _we still don't know what that means!_ – and provide your old universe to the dais, Creare still won't give you a new one. It is just plain not going to work. Even if you do it all perfectly, you're out of luck. Sorry."

"Why?" Smokepaw asked.

"Because of Scylla and Charybdis," Rust sighed. He looked up at Smokepaw and Rosepaw's blank expressions. "Scylla and Charybdis are queen and king of Anima and Animus, respectively. They've screwed up Create Space by skewing the balance between good and evil. Create Space, on its own, is completely neutral. It isn't bad or good, it doesn't pick sides, it's nothing. It's blank. And that's where Anima and Animus come in. Scylla is supposed to the queen of good, and Charybdis the king of evil. From what we've gathered, Charybdis is minding his own business on Animus like the royalty is supposed to, but Scylla…all we know is things got a little kooky with her. And instead of helping the creators understand Create Space and what Creare wants and assisting them in building the new universes, she's been weirdly hoarding the creators in her palace on Anima."

"How is that bad?" Rosepaw asked. "In a place this strange, how can you know what her motives are?"

"That's what we thought too," Rust spoke. "Until some of the cats from our Septs turned up on Anima and they were…all wrong. They weren't right. It was like talking to a cat that was dead. We didn't – we still don't – know what Scylla was doing with them, and why she wanted to gather and keep all of us on Anima like that. We knew something was seriously wrong, but when we tried to leave, and get back to Creare, she wouldn't let us go. We had to break out."

"Oh no," Rosepaw whispered.

"Creare has locked itself down for all universes and creators until Scylla and Charybdis are sorted out and the balance between Anima and Animus is restored." Rust finished. "That's what we've figured out. Mostly me, that's what _I've_ figured out, because apparently I'm the only one from my team interested in studying the runes and learning as much as I can. I believe this has been going on long before your team, long before my team, and that Creare has been in stalemate for lightyears. Which means I think all the teams who came here before us didn't make it out alive."

He looked between both of them, blue eyes flicking back and forth. "In other words, Create Space is broken."

"Oh, joy." Smokepaw sat down. "And I was starting to worry this was only a fun, straightforward adventure with cool powers and mystical runes. Hurray!"

"You guys were our only hope," Rust said suddenly. "We were hoping that when Creare reset and the next universe and the new creators arrived, they might stand a chance against Scylla and Charybdis and fixing this stinking place so we can actually get a new universe and get out of here. We were _waiting_ and _waiting_ for you guys. We arrived here, what, four, five months ago now? And we've been waiting at least a month since our old universe was destroyed. Here Rye and I were, praying upon praying to the Sept Lord that the new batch of creators would be from a universe where you guys would be insanely strong and you'd be able to beat the crap out of Scylla and Charybdis and fix everything, but we got the weakest of the weak! Weaker than us, even, and we're already pretty stinking weak! Yeah. You're dead. All of you."

"Was your team just the two of you?" Rosepaw asked. "Because there're four of us…if that helps."

"No, there were four of us…" Rye spoke up, glancing sideways at Rust.

"But then one died," Rust agreed. "A while ago, actually. Although I have no idea how long precisely. I know it was before the countdown ran out and we lost our old universe. Being trapped in this place has sure destroyed my faculties! Is it a week? A month? A year? Who knows! Not me. Oh well. Hahaha!"

"Yeah," Rye cut in. "And then the other is in jail."

"What's jail?" Rosepaw asked.

"Oh my Sept Lord, you are such an idiot." Rust gaped. "What kind of idiot doesn't know what JAIL IS!"

"Excuse me?" Rosepaw made an annoyed face.

"Help me, Rye. Give me oxygen. I can't believe we're surrounded by the most dumbfoundingly stupid morons to ever be conceived in any universe."

"WHAT DID I _JUST SAY!"_ Smokepaw snarled suddenly. He didn't even mean to. It just came out of him.

"Yes," Rosepaw agreed heartily. "Is there a reason you guys are needlessly aggressive and cruel all the time?"

"Don't listen to him, he suffers from a rare disease called never knowing when to shut the hell up," Rye said.

Rosepaw sighed for a long time. Rust steamed, glaring at the ground. "Is there anything we can do to change this? This is so bleak." She mewed.

"Well…" Rye spoke now. There was something about her that was spooking Smokepaw out. She wasn't like any she-cat he knew. And there was something about her measured calculating gaze. "How long is your countdown on the dais?"

"Fourteen days," Rosepaw said. "Thirteen, now."

"…Fourteen?" Rust stammered. "It's fourteen? Seriously? Oh, you're dead."

"We had three _months_ ," Rye said.

"Moons?" Rosepaw asked. "Oh jeez."

"You at least have your old universe, don't you?" Rust asked.

"Uh…why would we have that?" Smokepaw returned. "What does that even mean? How do you 'have' a universe?"

"It's CRUCIAL!" Rust snapped. "One of the things Creare requires for making a new universe is that it needs your old universe – well, just the planet you lived on – to be deposited into the cylindrical opening on the dais before the countdown runs out and it gets destroyed and you miss the window to create a new one!"

"So the countdown is counting down to the destruction of our old universe?" Rosepaw asked.

"Yes!" Rust nodded. "And if you don't have everything else in place to make the new universe by then, the old one gets destroyed forever, and you can never use it to create a new one, and then you can never leave Creare, just like us. Without your old universe intact, you're out of luck. It's game over."

"I don't…" Rosepaw looked at Smokepaw. "I don't think we have it."

Rust sighed impatiently. "Well who in your team is the location creator?"

"I think…it's Jadepaw, right?" Smokepaw asked, looking at Rosepaw for clarification. "She can, like, teleport or something."

"Then she's the one who has it," Rust instructed.

"So what do we do?" Rosepaw asked.

He snorted loudly and shook his head in exasperation. "You better go get it."

"We don't know where she is," Smokepaw said. "We were out looking for her, and our _time creator,_ or whatever, when you ambushed us and beat the living daylights out of us."

"I'm sure she's on Anima," Rust said, sounding bored. "If she's a location creator, that's where her spirit lives, so she's the princess of Anima, yay, great, and I bet Scylla already came and recruited her because that's what happened to _our_ location creator, before he was murdered."

"What does Scylla want with her?" Rosepaw asked, fur standing on end.

"That's what we don't know!" Rust said. "I don't _want_ to know, frankly, that's why we've been hiding out here on Creare, because you better believe Scylla's still out there looking for us, losing her mind that a couple of creators eluded her and are still hanging around even after Create Space was reset. But if Jadepaw's on Anima, and if your time creator is too, and if she has your old universe with her, she needs to GET OUT. Because, trust me, Scylla's never letting her and that thing out of there."

Smokepaw looked at Rosepaw. Rosepaw looked at Smokepaw. The silence stretched long. Rosepaw's blue eyes were carefully calculating, he could see the cogs turning in her mind. He had to admit, she was pretty intelligent. Pretty savvy. Or maybe that was just because she was morphing into a powerful cat psychic. As for him…

He imagined Jadepaw, on Anima, wherever that was, and her being with Scylla, whoever that was, and imagined her exuberant curiosity and excitement being squandered by the darkness and misery Rust had just laid out. And it was…

"Oh no." He groaned loudly.

"What?" Rosepaw asked.

"I have to go find her." Smokepaw sighed. "Both of them. _Darn_ it."

 **Hi everyone, I hope all that exposition wasn't too confusing. As you've probably gleaned by now, this story does get a little heady with the worldbuilding, but if you're at all confused, just ask and I can explain! There'll be a lot more explained about the alternate universe cats, so don't worry if you're confused about them. Also, this chapter and the last are longer and denser than how most will be moving forward, just because of all the exposition. The rest will be simpler :).**

 **Please review!**

 **~Delaney**


	13. Strategist

_The Land Between, Chapter Thirteen_

Rainpaw took the stairs behind Scylla two at a time until he reached the bottom of the tower. She looked back at him with a smile, signaling with her white tail to a long, sunny hallway ahead.

"I've got sleeping quarters for the two of you prepared, just ahead…" she meowed. "I'm sure both of you are in need of some serious rest. Unfortunately, I can't say much for darkness…here on Anima it stays light all the time!"

"I'm sure that's fine!" Rainpaw meowed. He felt a nudge at his tail, and he turned around. Jadepaw, who a second ago had been right on his heel, was nudging him anxiously, her green eyes round and huge.

"You okay?" He asked.

She shook her head frantically, but Scylla was already nodding them along, so Rainpaw plodded forward, down the hallway to a row of doorways made from steel grates, one of which was open. Scylla padded through, so after a moment of hesitation, Rainpaw followed.

"I've got nests, fresh-kill…" Scylla waved her tail. They were in a tall, narrow room with a pastel stone roof that towered overhead and skinny gaps in the stone to let light in, too small for a cat to slip through. On the slightly-sandy stone floor, two enormous nests made of down feathers, cotton, and fluff had been neatly provided. A heaping pile of fresh-kill waited, but Rainpaw was so stuffed the sight made him sick.

"It's not much, but it will do," the queen meowed. "And I'll look into bringing some of your Clanmates to come help you out. Bringing fresh-kill and clean bedding and such. If they've woken up yet, that is!"

"Oh, good!" Rainpaw said. "That'd be awesome!" He looked at Jadepaw, loitering nervously near the doorway. "Aren't you coming in, Jadepaw?"

"Uh…" Her ears flattened, her eyes darted back and forth.

"Come on, princess," Scylla purred. "Get some rest."

Jadepaw crept into the room, her dark fur illuminated as she moved through the shafts of colorful light.

"I'll come see you two when you wake up," Scylla said. She dipped her head to both of them, and left through the doorway, closing the gate with her tail as she left with a quiet _clang._

"Rainpaw…" Jadepaw whispered the instant she was gone. "I think we have to get out of here."

"Why?"

"I have a really, really bad feeling about this place," She meowed.

"Really? You were so excited a little while ago."

"I know. I was so excited to be here, and learn all this stuff about Anima, and Scylla, but I really…I don't think this place is what it seems. Or at least, not Scylla. Or something! I don't know what it is, but something's _wrong!"_

"Okay, okay," Rainpaw calmed her. "Tell me what happened."

"Well, I saw a Clanmate." She mewled. Her eyes darted back and forth. "A WindClan apprentice. My friend I guess? And he was…" She shook her head hard. "He wasn't right. He sounded like he was _dead._ And he told me to get out."

"Are you sure, Jadepaw?" Rainpaw asked. "I don't know, I think it's really important we focus on building the new universe to save our Clans, and Scylla's literally the only help we've gotten so far. I mean, think about where we were before she showed up and started helping us. We didn't know anything! We were so lost."

"I'm afraid this is a trap," Jadepaw said. "I think…I think I want to teleport back to Creare and tell Rosepaw and Smokepaw what's going on. Just to keep them in the loop, if nothing else."

"Okay…are you sure you'll be able to find them?" Rainpaw asked her.

"I have to try." She set her jaw. "And then I'll come back for you."

"Eeesh." Rainpaw mewled. He didn't like the idea of being here alone, but he wasn't about to stop her. "Fine. Go safe."

Jadepaw shut her eyes. She shut them, and Rainpaw waited, watching her. Time passed. She opened them again.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Huh?"

"Why didn't I teleport?" She closed her eyes again, this time squeezing them shut, but still, nothing happened. "Why can't I teleport!?"

"Uh…maybe it has something to do with being on Anima?" Rainpaw shrugged.

"Well, try some time travel!" Jadepaw barked.

"Sheesh, fine," Rainpaw said, swallowing his nervousness. He shut his eyes and pictured the long staircase they'd climbed down a little while ago. But when he opened them, he was still sat across from Jadepaw in that strange tall room.

"Oh no…" Jadepaw mumbled, pressing her paw fretfully to the side of her head. "Oh no, oh no, oh no."

"I'm sure it's okay…" Rainpaw muttered.

"I just want to get out of here," Jadepaw said. She dashed to the gated door and pushed on it with her head. "It's locked."

"Are you saying we're trapped?" Rainpaw meowed loudly.

"I don't...I don't know!" She closed her eyes again. "I can't TELEPORT!"

"Okay, calm down!" Rainpaw instructed. "You can't jump to the worse possible conclusion. We're on a strange world we don't understand, of course you're freaked out. Nothing makes sense! I get it. But this really could just be Scylla's version of hospitality, and who knows what happened with your Clanmate, I mean who KNOWS! I really think we should just get some rest now."

"Yeah." The fur on Jadepaw's forehead furrowed. "I am really exhausted."

"Yeah." Rainpaw agreed. "You won't be able to get anything done if you're exhausted." He nodded to the biggest nest. "If you want me to stay awake and keep watch for a bit, I will."

"Oh, that's okay," she mumbled distantly, like she was distracted. She stumbled over to the nest and lay down slowly, her head up, eyes still wide, ears trembling. He looked away for a bit, and when he looked back, her head was lolling in a deep, restless sleep.

"Oh boy," Rainpaw sighed. He sure hoped Jadepaw's predictions weren't right. He was really relying on her in all of this. He lifted his head to gaze out the narrow window. The endless pastel light shifted through in a long, skinny shaft, with little pieces of dust caught and illuminated in the light. It was so pretty. Anima was really cool.

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaain. Paw." Came a voice.

Rainpaw's fur stood on end. He froze in horror. He looked at Jadepaw, but she was sound asleep. He looked all around, totally perplexed and freaked out. Huh?!

"Sheesh. Over here, doofus." The same strange voice spoke. "In the corner to your left."

Rainpaw looked, very slowly, and caught sight of a hidden, crumbling hole in the stone wall in the corner of the room, at about eye-height. He began to creep his way over, silent on his feet as he could be, and peeked into the hole.

He saw a face on the other side.

"Hello Rain Paw." Said the face. She had a leg resting casually up on the edge of the stone hole.

"Uh…" Rainpaw mewed. The fur on her face was bright, deep red, solid red all the way through. There was something about the fur, too, that looked off. Something was seriously up. "How do you know my name?" He asked, voice wavering.

"Your friend just said it ten minutes ago," She spoke. "And I hear everything." She smiled. "So, Rain Paw. What's your deal?"

"It's…it's Rainpaw," He corrected lamely. "Who are you?"

"Rainpaw? What kind of name is that? Why not just Rain?"

"Because that's my name! I'm an apprentice, so my suffix is -paw. That's how it always is."

"Uh…okay, I'm not even going to dignify that hogwash with a response." She smiled through the hole in the thick stone. "I'm Sunny."

"Sunny?" Rainpaw asked. "See, that's a weird name. Don't you have a suffix that shows what your rank is? Like, I'm hoping my warrior name is going to be something really cool, like Rainclaw or Rainfang or Rainshadow or something. I have lots of ideas."

"Oh, so the -paw is a rank thing," She spoke. "That's not totally stupid. I mean, I guess I have that technically, but for me it's the other way around. My full name is Padsun, because pad- means you're a junior. Like -paw I guess? And then it changes when you get older, like you! Like maybe I'll be Bloodsun or Slicesun or something. Except I go by Sunny, because Sun is stupid."

"Padsun!" Rainpaw laughed out loud, and had to stop himself so he didn't wake up Jadepaw. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"

"No it's not! Shut up!" She snarled. "Rainpaw is stupid! You're stupid! Ugh!"

"Wait a second," Rainpaw mewed, wiping mirth out of his eyes. "What are you? You're not a Clan cat, are you?"

"What's a Clan?"

"It's…" Rainpaw peered closely through the hole in the stone. "Are you even a cat?"

"Yes I'm a cat!" She spat impatiently.

"I can't see you very well." Rainpaw said. "Uh…do you know where we are, exactly?"

"We're in jail." She said. "I'm in the next cell over."

"What's jail?"

"What's _jail?_ " She spoke. "Did you grow up under a rock?! _This_ is jail! Like cells with locked gates and stuff!"

"Okay, okay," Rainpaw sighed. "Wow, I literally have a million questions."

"You must be one of the new creators," Sunny purred. "Wow. At first when I heard your voice, I felt really bad for your species and your universe because you sounded like such a pathetic wuss! But now I take it back. I kind of like the way you look. Your feathers have so much variety."

"My feathers?" Rainpaw looked at himself. "I think you mean my fur?"

"Whatever." She said, bright red eyes glistening. "Anyway, Rainpaw, I am Sunny, from Aster, of the Sept of Oil, red force. The strongest and most ruthless junior in my force, probably even in my Sept! And you are…?"

"Me?" Rainpaw laughed. "Nothing like that, that sounds like a pretty tall order! I'm not nearly that exciting. I'm Rainpaw, from…Earth, I guess? Of ThunderClan. And I'm just an ordinary apprentice. Probably even less than ordinary."

"Oh, we can change that," Sunny assured him. " _I_ can change that! You're a creator, Rainpaw of ThunderClan. That already makes you one of the most powerful beings to ever exist. How great is that? I can make you just as strong and ruthless as I was. Until my universe was destroyed and everyone I ever knew was annihilated into eternal nothingness."

"Oh jeez…" Rainpaw mewed. "As cool as that does sound, I don't even know you! I think I'm gathering that you are an alien cat from another universe? Is that right?"

"Exactly right!" She said. "I wish you could see me better. You could see how awesome and great I look. Red force had the best coloration. Like me! I'm from the team of creators before you and your friends arrived. We failed at creating our universe so we've been hanging out waiting for you guys. Well, we were, until I ended up in jail."

"Whoa…" Rainpaw agreed. "Why are you in jail? Why am I in jail?"

"Because Scylla puts everyone in jail, silly!" Sunny said. "Jail's kind of her bag, you know?"

"No," said Rainpaw. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Well, the whole time Create Space was aligned for my team and my universe, we kept having to deal with Scylla doing everything in her mostly unlimited power to gather us all up into jail together. That's all she tries to do, day in and day out, is round up creators for her silly jail. She's got big plans for us, I'm sure. But she never got all of my team in here at the same time. We outsmarted her. Well, _I_ outsmarted her. It took a lot of complex machinations on my part to keep all four of us out of here at the same time. We all staged a huge jailbreak, in fact. And we lost a teammate as collateral, may he rest in peace."

"So Jadepaw was right?" Rainpaw meowed. "This was all a trap?"

"Well I don't know about _that_ ," Sunny said casually. " _I_ don't know what Scylla wants so bad with all these creators, and why she's always trapping them in her jail, so I can't say it's necessarily a bad thing. Or who knows, maybe she's just doing the wrong things for the right reasons? I've got to give the girl some credit, she has a very nice palace. And I was the princess of Animus, so it took a lot of coming around on my part, but I've got to hand it to her." Her ears flattened to the sides. "But I will say, I'm pretty sick of being in jail, myself."

"So we really can't get out?" Rainpaw asked.

"I've been here about three weeks," Sunny said. "My team, we all broke out, but then a few weeks ago…well, long story short, a few weeks ago I went a little rogue and got up to some stuff on my own that landed me in trouble! Or, in jail, I mean. Oh well! And Scylla says I'm perfectly welcome to leave at any time, _if_ I go find the remaining creators from my team, and tell her where they are."  
"So why don't you, then?"

"I'm not going to snitch on my teammates!" Sunny bristled. "Wusses they may be, I can't turn on them like that! No, I must bide my time." She titled her head to the side, watching him coyly. "Speaking of time, you're a time creator, aren't you."

"How did you know?"

"Your friend said it!" Sunny laughed. "You are kind of slow, it's so adorable. I'm manipulation." She smiled slyly.

"You have powers too?" Rainpaw asked.

"Of course I have powers! I'm a creator! That's what makes you a creator and not just a stupid run-of-the-mill associate like the cats from our Septs. Before our universe was destroyed and they all died."

"Oh." Rainpaw said. "I think I get it. So what do you mean, manipulation? I think Smokepaw had something to do with that."

"Well, yeah," Sunny said. "There are only four classes of powers. Time, location, manipulation, and psyche, and every team has one of each. And I'm manipulation! It's great."

"So, you can tear holes in stuff with your paws?"

"What?" Her eyes went round. "What…is that what _your_ manipulation creator can do?"

"Basically," Rainpaw drawled. "It's crazy destructive."

Sunny's red eyes got driven and piercing. "That's incredible. That's so much cooler than what my powers do!"

"What do they do?"

"Well, I kind of…I can create stuff in midair, whatever I want, with my paws."

"That is really cool," Rainpaw said. "I don't know why you're downplaying that. I'd rather have that than destroy everything I touch."

"I'd rather destroy everything!" Sunny insisted. "He must be so powerful! I _have_ to meet him."

"It kind of sounds like your powers are opposites," Rainpaw surmised. "Like, you create stuff, he destroys stuff. Isn't that interesting?"

"It is interesting." Sunny smiled darkly. "Huh, maybe you aren't as slow and dorky as I originally thought. There may be hope for you yet! Now, let's talk about how we're going to get out of here."

"Well, I would say Jadepaw could just teleport us away," Rainpaw mewed, looking at the snoozing she-cat, "But she can't use her powers, and neither can I."

"Of course she can't. That's what makes this place jail." Sunny shrugged through the hole. "That's one of Scylla's many infinitely powerful powers. Anywhere in this whole palace of hers, the powers of creators are disabled. I can't do my cool creation thing, _and_ I'm evolved."

"Oh, that's awful," Rainpaw said. "So we just have to escape like ordinary cats then. StarClan's stars, I can't even catch a tiny mouse."

"Oh, we aren't anything like ordinary cats," Sunny said slyly, coming closer to the opening of the hole. "I've been planning my escape since the first day I found myself in here. And you, Rainpaw of ThunderClan, _you_ are here now, and you are my ace of spades. You and I are going to escape, and then we are going to bring this whole place crumbling down."

"Um…" Rainpaw leaned away. Sunny's teeth were bared in a dark, glimmering smile. StarClan, she was intense. Talking to her was like getting slapped in the face by a gust of wind. "Wow. I don't know about any of that, but I would like to get myself and Jadepaw out of here, I know that much."

"I don't think she'll be coming with us," Sunny said. "She's your location creator, right?"

"I think," Rainpaw said.

"Of course she is. She's the princess of Anima. So she has your old universe with her, then."  
"She does?"

"Of course she does, don't ask stupid questions. Scylla's not letting her anywhere. But don't worry! I'm sure she's too important for Scylla to hurt her. Scylla wouldn't touch our location creator either, not until…Unfortunately, these silly location creators always end up being kind of the most important and critical of all the creators. Which make no sense, if you ask me, because our location creator was a huge wimp. Except, he died. I should be nicer!"

"Whoa," Rainpaw meowed. "This is really freaking me out!"

"Don't worry! I have a plan." Sunny smiled. "Tomorrow, Scylla will return. She will ask you if you'd be willing to venture back to Creare and find your other teammates and let her know where they are. It will all sound perfectly reasonable. And you, Rainpaw, will say yes."

"I will?" He mouthed.

"Yes." She grinned with a row of long, sharp teeth. When she closed her mouth, one fang hung just outside of her maw, like a little snaggle tooth. "The conditions of your release will appear to be of your own volition, because Scylla still thinks she has you fooled. Which you would have been, if you hadn't met me! You would have gone off to Creare and turned in your teammates and ruined everything for yourself and your team and your universe if it weren't for me! Good thing I was here."

"And what will you do?" Rainpaw asked her.

"I'll be coming with you." Her smile grew. "She will ask the same of me afterward. Of course, the conditions of my release will be far different – she'll believe I'm only choosing to turn in my teammates because I've been trapped here too long, and I've cracked, and given in. But I never crack. Unbeknownst to her, I've had a long game all along! And I will be going with you."

"I'm not sure I understand but okay!" Rainpaw meowed. "So do we actually go find my teammates, then? I'm not sure where they are…"

"Yes we do!" Sunny said. "You will explain to them the situation on Anima. And we will find mine. I still have two teammates hiding out on Creare. Well, maybe two! Who knows! There were two when I left, but they may have died by now, actually. They were all kind of wimps except for me."

"But I don't actually turn them into Scylla, do I?" He asked. "I mean, right?"

"Oh no," Sunny smiled. "When we locate your teammates, and mine, it will be time to strategize. And don't worry, I have some tricks up my sleeve for when that time comes. You didn't think I was going to leave Jadepaw in here to rot, was I?"

"Uh…I honestly don't know?" Rainpaw mewed. "How do I know I can trust you?"

"You can't!" She spoke. "You should never trust anyone, Rainpaw. I never even really trusted my own teammates. But if you follow my lead, you will end up out of this jail, with freedom to choose your next step – turn in your team to Scylla, or work with me against her. It's up to you! I won't blame you for whatever you choose! Free will is one of the most important traits that make a cat a hero."

"Oh-okay," Rainpaw mewled.

"But listen to me," Sunny growled, pressing her face against the stone wall that separated them, teeth bared. "If you aren't on your paws, working around the clock – and _you_ have all the time in the world, Rainpaw! – to fulfill Creare's requirements…you will _die_ here."

"Got it." Rainpaw breathed, feeling cold permeate his pelt. "I won't die! I'll fight to the end for my friends."

"That's the spirit!" Sunny cheered. "I mean, you don't even know the tidal wave of animal crap you're up against yet, but still, great energy! Now shut your eyes and get some sleep!"

"Sh-shut my..?"

"Shut 'em! Sleep!" Sunny barked.

Rainpaw obeyed her dutifully, if only because of the assertive timber of her strange cat voice, and because he was so exhausted, he could barely comprehend the words leaving her mouth. He stumbled over to the nest beside Jadepaw, who was in a deep snore, and shut his eyes. Instantly, he was in a deep sleep.

A subtle knock came on the gated door. Rainpaw leaped awake, Jadepaw mirroring him. At first he was really disoriented and confused, gaping at the pastel light and colorful stone walls and literally had no clue where he could possibly be, and when he did finally realize, he still didn't really believe it, because "mythical colorful kingdom of good on a pastel moon in a pocket of void outside of any universe" was tough prey to digest.

Scylla was at the gate. The shimmery white she-cat let herself in with a smile, asking how the apprentices had slept, dropping off two freshly killed rabbits. Rainpaw's stomach growled. "It's a new day!" She addressed them brightly. "I think it's important we worry about bringing the rest of your team together."

"Mmf." Jadepaw mumbled, grouchily reaching for a rabbit.

"Rainpaw, would you be willing to head back to Creare and find them?" Scylla asked him. "I'm sure you miss your friends."  
Rainpaw glanced suddenly at the hole in the wall through which he'd spoken to Sunny last night. His heart started to pound. He didn't know who to believe. Last night, Sunny really seemed to have everything figured out, but Scylla sounded so kind and honest. He felt totally comfortable around her. She was so nice and approachable and helpful. "Uh…" he mewled, knowing his voice could carry over to the other cell where Sunny was, although he hadn't heard a peep from her yet. "Sure."

Scylla stood up, letting her past him through the open gate out of the cell. Jadepaw rose to follow him, but she shook her head. "I think it's best if only Rainpaw goes for now," she meowed. "The more cats are here on Anima, the better."

"…but I want to go!" Jadepaw looked wildly at Rainpaw. "I'm not staying here all by myself!"

Rainpaw's heart started to race. It was just like Sunny had predicted! He stared at the hole in the rock. This was all too creepy. He rushed up to Jadepaw's side, and spoke softly so it was hard for Scylla to hear. "I'll come back for you," he hissed. "It's better not to resist – don't make a scene. Just go with the flow. Try and find out as much as you can. I have – there's a plan." _I think,_ he thought but didn't say.

"You have to find Rosepaw and Smokepaw," Jadepaw hissed urgently, her green eyes huge and fearful. Rainpaw's heart ached. "You have to tell them about the WindClan cat I saw. Tell them he acted dead. You have to! You have to come back and get me!"

"We will!" Rainpaw assured her. "It's going to be okay! I promise I'll be back!" He licked her ear. "Don't be scared, Jadepaw. You're braver than you think."

She looked down, and he turned to follow Scylla out of the cell, looking back to watch the gate shut on Jadepaw's anxious face. He followed Scylla for a while, and she spoke to him, but he didn't really remember what it was she said. The traveled through several halls that lead from the palace, and then Scylla released him into the white sand, with directions on how to reach the gateway to Creare.

"See you soon, little prince," she purred. And he went off stalking down the sand. The light was blinding after being in the relative shade of the palace.

Rainpaw rounded the big hill the castle sat atop, heading for the shimmery colorful water. As he stepped into the shade of one of the dunes, a cat stepped suddenly out in front of him.

She was brilliantly red, red eyes, her spine and long tail decorated in jagged spikes.

"Are you ready, Rainpaw of ThunderClan?" Sunny said. She broke into a toothy smile.

 **Who do you trust, Scylla or the cats from the alternate universe? :) Is Scylla tricking them, or is Sunny tricking Rainpaw? What's her story? Lots of moving pieces! Please review! Let me know your thoughts!**

 **~Delaney**


	14. Psyche

_The Land Between, Chapter Fourteen_

Rosepaw struggled to sleep. The smooth underground cave beneath the sands of Creare was cool under her paws. It was quiet, Smokepaw sleeping beside her was nearly silent, and on the other side of the cave, Rye, the strange blue she-cat, slept quietly as well.

She would be in a deep sleep if it weren't for a strange orange-colored tom pacing anxiously near the entrance and shooting the Clan cats furtive glances. Rust was huffing, worked up and short of breath, dragging his claws and tail on the floor. Every time Rosepaw started to dose off, his huffing and puffing re-awoke her. And it was getting really annoying!

Rosepaw and Smokepaw had both decided the best course of action was to get a few hours of sleep before setting off for Anima to look for Jadepaw and Rainpaw. Rust nearly threw a tantrum, insisting there was no time for pleasantries like sleep when they were up against a thirteen day countdown, and every second counted. And then he and Smokepaw got in a spirited debate over it, neither of whom won, because eventually Smokepaw got bored of fighting and plopped down toward one wall of the cave.

At the cave entrance, Rust sat down with a loud, heavy sigh. He scratched his ear with his rear paw, revealing long, black claws. Rosepaw closed her eyes tight, but the scratching noise carried on. Scratch! Scratch! Scratch! Honestly, these alternate universe cats were kind of…freaks? They really seemed unnecessarily brutish and confrontational, not to mention the excessiveness of their appearances.

 _"Oh, haha, very funny! A freak, huh? How original! Gold star!"_ Rust spat.

Rosepaw's eyes flew open. Rust had his head down, back to her, still scratching oddly at his ear.

 _"Did you just say something?"_ Rosepaw asked him.

 _"Rosepaw?"_

Rosepaw stood up on all fours. Her fur started prickling. Rust slowly turned around, eyes round and wary.

"Did you hear that?" He asked.

"Did I hear what? What you just said?"

"I didn't say anything!"

"You laughed sarcastically at me calling you a freak!" Rosepaw mewled. "And yeah, I heard it!"

"That was my PRIVATE THOUGHT!" Rust snarled, struggling to keep his voice down. "What do you mean you HEARD IT!"

"How did you hear me thinking that you were a freak!" Rosepaw spat.

 _"Are you inside my head or something?!"_ They both spat at the same time, then froze, staring at each other, dumbfounded.

"Think something to me." Rust said.

"What?!"

"Think something to me! Like think a phrase at me. Like, 'Rust is awesome and cool'."

"What! I'm not doing that." Rosepaw complained.

"Do it!" Rust glared at her. "I need to test something."

She walked over to his side of the cave, because she didn't want to get an earful – or a clawful – from Smokepaw if she woke him up with their sparring. "Hmm." She meowed, looking around the cave. "Okay." _Rust is really loud and annoying!_ She thought.

" _SHUT UP!"_ Rust snarled, but his mouth stayed motionless.

Rosepaw's eyes went round. "Whoa."

"What."

"Can you, like, telepathically communicate with other cats?" She asked him.

"Of course not! That's crazy and stupid. Can _you?"_

"No," Rosepaw mewed. "But I think we were thinking thoughts to each other just now!"

"Oh no." Rust groaned. "Oh no, no, no. You are not allowed to go snooping in my private thoughts. I forbid it!"

"Hehehe," Rosepaw giggled. She couldn't help herself, he was just so ridiculous.

"I am not ridiculous!" He spat.

She covered her mouth with her paw. "Oops."

"Oooooh no," Rust drawled. "Oh jeez. I get it now. You're the psyche creator, aren't you."

"I think so," Rosepaw said.

"Oh great. Just great!" Rust bumped his head, forehead-first, into the nearest wall. "I knew your team was going to have a psyche creator, which meant I was probably going to have to meet them eventually, and knowing myself they were probably going to be just as bad, and here you are! Why don't you just kill me, Rosepaw of whatever-who-cares! I'd rather that than go through the literal mental humiliation of having a weirdly sly and serene she-cat lay my intricate thoughts and fears out bare for everyone to see!"

Rosepaw tried to hide her smirk. "Why didn't you say earlier that you were psyche! We could have bonded over this, you know?"

"Bonded!" Rust gagged. "We aren't becoming friends! That isn't a thing!"

"I wasn't saying friends," Rosepaw sighed, "Just…it would have given us something in common so you wouldn't have had to be yelling and huffing and puffing so much."

"Do you know how horrible it is being a psyche creator?" Rust bemoaned. "First of all, it's creepy and alienating from day one. Second of all, it's so great watching your friends turn into these incredible powerful heroes around you while you sit in the background like, yeah, I can read runes and stuff? Third of all, being a psychic is all about unwillingly learning things you never wanted to learn, and not really being able to do anything about it."

"Hmm." Rosepaw mewed. She looked at the stony floor. "Some of that is relatable, but all of that sounds pretty awful."

"Yeah." Rust sighed. "Psyche is _supposed_ to set you apart from your teammates, that's kind of part of the whole stupid point, apparently, and you figure out how to listen to your powers, and kind of figure out how they're really used, especially if you're able to evolve, and then you're supposed to become all-knowing and kind of spiritual and strategic and be able to win battles without even getting your paws dirty." He looked sideways at her with his orange eyes. "But all I ever got was a lot of confusion and grief."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"It's fine!" He dismissed. "Because it doesn't matter anymore, anyway. All that crap is your burden now! Sucks to be you."

"Hey." Rosepaw frowned. "You could try and help me, you know. Since you seem to know so much about it."

"I know so much about lots of things!" Rust yelped. "Because I'm a stupid psychic! Why do you think I learned all that stuff about Creare being in stalemate, and Scylla and Charybdis, and Anima and Animus? Having psyche as your power makes you _know_ stuff. And it stinks, because you can never do anything about it!"

"Except stress out and pace all the time," Rosepaw observed. "Okay. Well, yesterday, before Smokepaw and I left the dais to go look for Jadepaw and Rainpaw, I got a really strong sense, like in my chest, that the countdown was a bad sign. It wasn't clear, but I could almost…understand it?"

"Like you could see what was coming in the future?" Rust prompted.

"No," she mewed, "It was more like…the dais was talking to me, telling me the reality of the situation was that, in fact, the countdown was end-game, and was guaranteed to result in our deaths when run out. Almost like really, really heightened intuition, that I could almost hear it in my brain like someone else talking to me."

"Huh." Rust peered at the floor, deep in thought. "For me, it was all these snippets of the future, like the literal future, if we continued on the pathway we were on. When I saw the countdown, I literally saw the four of us in my mind's eye – well, I saw three of us, because one of us died along the way! – standing blankly on the dais as the timer ran out, and then everything turning white, our old universe blinking out of existence…which is exactly what happened! Even though I tried to do everything I could with Rye, our time creator, to change that outcome, it still came true!"

"It sounds like it's the same idea, though?" Rosepaw prompted. "Like different iterations of the same type of abilities? I think seeing the future could be more mentally stressful and cause a lot of cerebral anxiety and stressing out, but what I had yesterday, that gut feeling…I've never felt anything worse than that! It was like it overwrought any and all worries I'd ever had! I know what you mean when you say it's awful."

"Well." Rust gave her a good look, like he was actually seeing her for once. Then he looked quickly back at the floor. "Maybe your team will have better luck than mine. I don't even know what any of us did wrong, except being really incompetent and constantly screwing ourselves over with our own stupid drama with each other…you guys seem to have less drama, at least? And there was a lot of pressure on Rye, as our time creator, to change the future, but her powers weren't very fleshed out…it wasn't her fault, I mean, she's great, but nobody else knew how to help her either, and our strongest member was more focused on herself than the good of the team."  
"Well, our time creator can time travel, we know that for sure," Rosepaw said. "So maybe that will help?"

"Really?" Rust's ears perked up. "Hmm. That _is_ interesting, actually. Maybe your team isn't totally hopeless."

Rosepaw smiled.

"Provided you can get him out of jail intact," Rust sighed. "There's a certain teammate of mine in that jail up there I should sure hope he isn't hooking up with. That's what she does! Snares everyone and anyone. Hooks 'em. Bleh."

"Hmm," Rosepaw mused. "So then, what's the deal with the weird telepathy stuff?"

"I'm guessing it's some annoying shared trait unique to psyches," Rust sighed. "I guess we can communicate telepathically to each other! Ugh, it's like Create Space is _implying_ we have to become friends so we can use our own stupid method of communication."

"We don't have to be friends," Rosepaw said flatly. "I'm just concerned about you snooping around in my thoughts. Like when you heard me musing about you being freaky. It was just an observation, not an insult! How did you even hear that?"

"…yeah." Rust said. "Sometimes I can hear what a cat in my proximity is thinking, if it's about me. Just a few words, stuff like that. And by sometimes, I mean all the times."

"What!" Rosepaw mewed. " _I_ can't do that!"

"Well, what else can you do?"

"Um…I'm pretty sure I can go invisible? Or went invisible, once? Because apparently everyone here can see me just fine. I'm still not one hundred percent sure I didn't die back in my universe and this is the afterlife – because, let's face it, this crazy place really could qualify as an afterlife! Orbiting moons of good and evil? Like maybe this is where all the dead cats who didn't make it to StarClan or the Dark Forest go? Sort of a cat purgatory? Sorry, I'm getting carried away."

"Okay, I don't know what any of those things are, nor do I care, but you're probably definitely alive and did definitely go invisible." Rust spoke confidently. "For me, it started with the mind-reading stuff…back in my universe, just as a normal cat living in my Sept, and hearing the stuff cats were thinking, and thinking they were talking to me somehow and making a freak out of myself! At first it was really shocking how many cats actually hated me – even my friends! Just all the nasty thoughts they thought about me, and then, knowing me and my short temper, I'd get upset and call them out on it, and the hatred only got worse! I mean they really, really despised me! I couldn't get out of there and into Create Space soon enough."

"Wow." Rosepaw stared him down. "It's weird how that's basically exactly what happened to me. Nobody liked me either."

"Oh, well…" Rust tilted his head sideways at her, his expression soft and empathetic. It barely suited the image she'd had of him so far, with the constantly-brewing frustration always present on his brow. "Well I'm sure you're not too awful."

"Thanks." She mewed.

"Unless you're like me!" He scrunched his face back into a glare. "I'm pretty awful, I'm not going to lie! It actually makes sense why they all hated me." He nodded to where Smokepaw was sleeping alone. "You should probably get some sleep if you're going to be crashing Scylla's jail tomorrow. I mean the odds are already stacked way against you, and you're only hurting yourself more by going at it sleep deprived! Better to fail well-rested than fail exhausted!"

"Hahaha, okay," Rosepaw laughed, heading over to where Smokepaw was sleeping. He'd really slept through their whole exchange, and Rye too. She curled up tightly, and expected to return to fitful wakefulness interrupted by Rust's pacing, but when she looked back at him by the cave entrance, he'd gone and lain down next to Rye. Rosepaw was asleep in an instant.

"WAKE UP!" Shouted a voice in her ear.

Rosepaw jerked awake. She felt like it'd been only moments ago she'd shut her eyes, but when she opened them now, the other three cats in the cave were on their feet and wide awake. Rust was glowering down at her, having shouted straight into her ear a second ago.

"Rrrgh…" she sat up, cursing her poor night of sleep.

"Mouse." Rye said, swiping a mouse at her from all the way on the other side of the cave. It slid across the smooth surface and bumped, cold, into her paws. "Eat. We're leaving."

"Sorry, I tried to let you sleep as long as I could, but they're both huge, unbearable jerks, so that was the best I could do," Smokepaw meowed suddenly, standing off to one side. He looked down at the cave floor, and swiped his paw in one of the little piles of luminescent white sand at the cave edge. "Hey, what's with this glowy sand stuff?"

"It's from Anima," Rye barked. "It glows in the dark, but nobody knows that, because it's never dark on that fake fantasy planet."

"That sounds horrible." Smokepaw said.

"Hey, don't insult my planet!" Rye snapped at him. "I was the princess there for months, and I take great pride in that! Even though it turned out to mostly be a front for deceit and trickery!"

"You just called it a fake fantasy planet," Smokepaw laughed.

"I and only I am allowed to pass judgement on the fakeness, or lack thereof, of Anima," Rye growled. "Anyone whose spirit lives on Animus, like the three of you dark-hearted thieves, can't say anything!"

"Just ignore her," Rust instructed Smokepaw.

"Good, 'cause I'm leaving." Smokepaw said casually. "Catch you outside, Rosepaw."

He started to the cave entrance, Rye right on his heels. Smokepaw stopped and turned to look at her. "Uh…excuse me?"

"I'm going too, obviously," she growled.

"Why?"

"Because a wimpy, newbie creator who has barely set foot on Creare needs an experienced time creator to accompany him if he's going to plunder the sands of Anima and infiltrate the jail of Scylla herself!"

"What, no." Smokepaw scooted away from her. "I'm obviously going alone. Or with Rosepaw, I mean. Come on Rosepaw."

"You have to take Rye!" Rust barked. "She's absolutely right that you can't visit Anima alone! You don't even know how to get there!"

"Rosepaw will stay behind." Rye instructed. "I'll go with Smokepaw. Solved! Two depressed psyches can have it out together, while I educate this sad, apathetic fellow in the art of whatever his lame power is."

"It is pretty lame," Smokepaw agreed.

"It is _not_ lame," Rosepaw mewed. "I don't understand why I have to stay behind. They're my friends in jail."

"Because we can't leave Rust alone," Rye said, stalking across the cave toward her. She was pretty intimidating. When others were talking, she was silent and still and watchful, calculating. When she _was_ talking, which wasn't often, it was obvious she wasn't taking "no" for answer. "It's too dangerous. And this cave was home base for our team, so we can't all go and leave it unguarded, plus a four-cat-tactical approach to _Scylla's_ jail is a recipe for disaster! We stand the greatest chance with two cats. And with me, an experienced time creator, Smokepaw will be just fine, and we maximize the possibility of victory."

She looked back at Smokepaw. "Now, we are wasting precious minutes of the very limited time you have left. If we continue to stand around arguing like this every time something has to get done, we all might as well embrace our fates now as having our decapitated heads serve as decoration posts around Creare's dais, to inform future creators of what to expect here."

"…" Smokepaw let out an awkward snort of laughter. "Hahaha, what?"

"Yikes." Rosepaw mewed. She'd been all geared up to go rescue Jadepaw and Rainpaw, but honestly, the idea of hanging back, strategizing with Rust, sounded somewhat preferable to embarking on a complicated and potentially dangerous mission with passive-aggressive, difficult Smokepaw and Rye's weird, controlling morbidity.

"Go!" Rust commanded. "Rye's right! Do you _want_ to be a severed-head-decoration-post?"

Eesh. Rosepaw looked at him nervously. Maybe staying behind with Rust would be just as strenuous.

 _"No it won't! You're such a wuss!"_

Rust whipped his head around to stare at her, like he'd made a mistake. "Did you hear that?"

"Yes, I heard that," Rosepaw said, teeth grit _. "If we keep asking each other if we heard our telepathic insults, we're never going to figure anything out!"_

Smokepaw, unaware, was following Rye out of the cave. He turned around to look at Rosepawnbefore he left, giving her an awkward nod.

"See ya." He said.

 **I love Rust…I like all the alternate universe cats, actually! :3** _ **Italics**_ **are when Rye and Rust are communicating telepathically. If it isn't italicized, they're just speaking normally. Also, thanks for the great reviews, guys, and hello to new readers! I really appreciate everyone who is R &Ring to this story, it means so much and keeps me going! **


	15. Challenge

_The Land Between, Chapter Fifteen_

The red and yellow sands of Creare were slightly warm under the light of Anima rising into the hazy sky.

Two narrow figures jaunted across a field of red sand, leaving two wandering lines of pawprints in their wake.

Smokepaw was getting a headache even though the light from Anima wasn't that bright. Being on Creare required a _lot_ of walking. And usually, he didn't mind a lot of walking, in pensive silence, thinking about stuff, and things, but when…

His companion crashed over the sand, spraying him with a wave of it, and came to a stop beside him, almost barreling into his flank like she couldn't see him. Smokepaw began to slow down to turn and give her his attention, but then he realized what he was doing, and that there was no reason to do it, so he quickly picked up the pace and soldiered on.

"Okay, okay, okay," Rye was saying, bounding after him. "Land of Clans."

"Wrong." Smokepaw said.

"HMM…Mystical Land of Brooding Jerks."

"No." He turned to look back at her, following, nose down in the sand. "You're not going to be able to guess what my planet was called, so stop trying. Are we there yet? We've been walking for like at least ten hours."

"We've been walking for thirty four minutes!" She snapped. "Gosh!"

"Whoa, that's such a precise unit of time," Smokepaw said, looking sideways at her. "Why did that number even occur to you?"

"Because I'm a time creator, you moron!" Rye furrowed her blue forehead into a frown. "All I do is think in units of time!"

"Kay." Smokepaw nodded, studying the bleak horizon.

Rye bounded ahead of him, scented the horizon, and then turned to look back at him. On her left front paw, a long, thin strip of red Twoleg fabric had been looped a couple of times and tied in place. She didn't acknowledge it, but it looked pretty weird. "You know, in my universe, we all lived in a giant city, divided into two key Septs. Nothing like this sort of emptiness! Everything was crowded all the time – big buildings, narrow streets, greasy alleys. We lived in harmony with the Tallwalkers, even! Well…kind of."

"Don't care," Smokepaw said.

"But don't mistake our friendliness with the Tallwalkers as softness…" Rye continued. "A full grown soldier could take down a Tallwalker all on their own, if need be! My tutor and his friends once brought home a young Tallwalker that had tried to cut us off from the key dumpsters we used for food…"

"Nope."

"…If anything, it was a brutal agreement made between the Tallwalkers and the cats they shared their city with…a pact of sorts, of what each of us could not touch of the other's…but if you ask me, I would say they feared us! They knew how ruthless we could be, and that we would stop at nothing to take what was ours."

"No."

All of a sudden, Rye vanished from where she'd stood and talked, walking in the sand a few steps ahead of him. Smokepaw's eyes flew wide. He swiveled his head back and forth looking for her. In an instant she'd reappeared, literally inches in front of him, glowering furiously into his face, teeth bared.

"I'm TALKING to you." She snarled.

"…" Smokepaw recoiled blankly and gaped at her.

"I always _knew_ Sept cats were cold-blooded jerks…" Rye growled. All Smokepaw could see were six enormous teeth bared in a snarl. "But it seems the same observation applies to Caln cats as well."

"How did you do that?" Smokepaw whispered.

"I just stopped time for everything else but me, then jumped in front of you, then restarted it, it's not that complicated." Her bared teeth stretched into a toothy, pointy grin. "I use it all the time when dealing with useless jerks! I find grouchy toms especially are unnerved by it!"

"I'm not unnerved," Smokepaw mumbled, scratching at his ear. "I mean, it is kind of unnerving having a morbid and hyperactive she-cat with weird huge teeth use time travel to freak me out, but whatever."

"I'm not a time traveler." Rye frowned sadly. "I wish."

Smokepaw got to his feet again. "If I keep walking and don't respond to any of your chatter, can you promise not to do that again?"

"You really want to travel in silence?" Rye asked.

"Yes."

"You aren't interested at all in my universe?" She walked around him in a slow circle, prowling on the sand with her big, clawed paws. Her spine, traced with spiky, reptilian ridges, flexed as she moved, her long, spiked tail dragging in the sand. "What if I'm interested in yours?"

"I don't care."

"Fine." Rye walked around to his side, stepping too close into his face with a twisted sneer. Her resting facial expression seemed to be four overly-large pointed teeth hanging just over her lower lip. Why did the alternate universe cats appear so unnecessarily savage? She also seemed to love standing way too close to him and violating his personal space. But maybe that was just Rye in particular. "I will give you silence, Smokepaw. But only if I can turn it into a challenge!"

"Go." He sighed.

"If I am the first to break the silence, you get a free pass to ignore anything I say for the rest of our journey. For the rest of your time in Create Space, even! No time shenanigans, no tricks, nothing! You win! You and I will be complete strangers, just how you like it. But if _you_ are the first…you and I partake in a lightening round style of intense, intellectual questioning of each other."

"You're on." Smokepaw snapped his jaw shut and soldiered stonily toward the horizon. What an easy break! He almost wanted to thank her, if that wouldn't equal failing the challenge. In the corner of his eye, Rye smiled slyly.

They walked, and Rye didn't say another word. She'd been talking like crazy since they left the cave. So many questions and anecdotes and little explanations he never asked for. What was it with all the cats he'd met since his life got turned upside down being all about the _explanations?_ He didn't care! He really didn't!

He'd probably fooled everyone back in the cave that he really cared about all this stuff when he volunteered to go find Jadepaw and Rainpaw and rescue them. In the middle of the conversation about Creare and Anima and lockdown and blah blah blah that he hadn't really been listening to, because he didn't want to listen to Rust's loud ornery voice saying too many words. Things had already been complicated enough finding out he had a weird power and his planet was getting destroyed and now there was this whole other layer he was supposed to care about, that not only was he already on a weird, alien land of lore and ambiguous goals, but said alien land was _double-_ weird and in some sort of evil powergrab by an amorphous form of pure good or something. Who even cared.

He just didn't want to see some innocent Clan apprentices die needlessly. That was his sole motivation. That was why he was trekking across the bleak red sand of a strange and distant planet with a freaky alien she-cat following him.

Anima took to the green sky full tilt, until everything was basked in hazy yellow light. Yep. How long had they been walking now? He glanced sideways at Rye, her face stony, eyes narrowed and serious. It felt like forever. With every step, the more he doubted this silly mission and his impulse to go save his friends.

On the horizon, a particularly tall and narrow jutting column of magenta stone appeared and drew closer, and Smokepaw's pelt prickled. He was certain he'd seen that same column about an hour ago. He remembered walking straight past it and thinking about how particularly tall and narrow it was! Or maybe he was just getting weary and exhausted and everything was looking the same. It was so easy to get lost in this place. It really would have been bad if he had gone alone, or with Rosepaw, without bringing Rye as a guide…but now, she was completely silent…

Unless she was leading him in circles on purpose? Would she really do that, when the lives of his friends were potentially at stake? His mind buzzed like crazy his head pounded. As they neared the jutting column, he was certain. They _had_ been here before.

"Uh, I think we're going in circles," Smokepaw mumbled.

Rye didn't reply, so he turned to look at her.

"Hello?"

"Lightening round." She smiled.

"What?"

"You lost! Lighting round. Go."

"I…" In his befuddlement, Smokepaw had honestly forgotten about the challenge. Embarrassed shame washed over him, chilling him to the core. "It was an honest question."

"The rules of the challenge included no caveats about honest questions!" Rye assured him. "I had assumed you would want me to expect silence meant _absolute silence_ – to the point you would forego my help and guidance to soldier on on your own, the way you appeared to want! Was I _wrong_ about that?"

"Foxdung," Smokepaw spat to himself. "Agh. Fine. Lightening round."

"You go first."

"Are we walking in circles?"

Rye nodded to the outcropping. "Nope! You're just tired. I thought so too, the first time I made the trek from our hiding spot to Anima's gate. I consider this rock to be the marker…it exists after walking just enough to confuse you. The gate is barely another mile."

"Okay cool."

"Okay, so what is your planet called?"

"Huh?" He looked at her.

"Lightening round! You're in it now, buddy."

"Oh, right." Smokepaw sighed huge. "Fine. It's…Earth I guess."

"Earth!" Rye smiled. "That's not so bad. Go."

"…" Smokepaw rolled his eyes privately. "There is nothing I could ever conceivably want to know about you."

"That is a lie and we both know it," she sneered.

"How do you know it's a lie?"

"Because I can smell your curiosity," Rye replied. "Your intrigue is as pungent as the stuffed and discarded diaper of a Tallwalker kitten."

"You can smell emotions?" Smokepaw asked. "Gross."

"Of course not, I was jooooking!" Rye laughed.

"Yikes, well _that's_ unnerving," Smokepaw meowed.

Rye's crooked smile grew. "Well, if I _could,_ I would let you in on a secret, Smokepaw..."

"What."

"I'd like what I smelled." She winked one eye at him. "My turn! Tell me about your Clans."

"Oh boy…" Smokepaw sighed thoughtfully. "Well, there were four of us, and we lived in the forest surrounding a big lake…and the Twolegs – Tallwalkers – took care of us. You know, they fed us, groomed us, stuff like that. Most of us even lived inside their nests with them! It was great. We never had to hunt for ourselves or do anything!"

"So like a housepet?"

"What is that?"

"A cat that lives in a Tallwalker's house!"

"A kittypet?" Smokepaw mewed. "Yeah sure like that."

"That was all a complete, stinking lie." Rye said flatly.

"Haha, just messing with you." Smokepaw laughed. "We did live in a forest, but we had to hunt for our prey, and sometimes we fought each other over it…there were lots of territory politics, and issues about the morality of the warrior code…every moon, we gathered in harmony on an island to talk about our Clan issues and stuff…"

"No way!" Rye's face turned to one of shock. "You gathered _together_?! In peace?!"

"Yeah why."

"Because!" Rye shook her head hard. "That would be inconceivable between Septs! Between forces, even! Any meeting between Septs, or forces, even incidental, was a requirement for battle-to-the-death! Only one party was allowed to get out alive!"

"Wow you guys really were savages," Smokepaw observed. "What do you mean by forces?"

"Well, there were two Septs…" Rye trailed off. "Sept of Oil, which was mine, and Sept of Steel – that was Rust's. Within each Sept were two opposing forces who shared the same territory, and battled over their right to it relentlessly, always and forever. In the Sept of Oil it was red force versus blue force, and in Sept of Steel, green versus orange. A cat's fur color matched the color of their force. I was in the blue force, obviously."

"That sounds horrible in every way."

"It was pretty violent and murderous most of the time!" Rye agreed.

"Yuck." Smokepaw said. "Thank StarClan for not being born in _your_ universe. I hate fighting. I hate war, I hate killing…and not even because of some moral high ground, I just straight up, personally detest it and want nothing to do with it."

"Why?" She sounded innocently curious.

"Because I don't…" Smokepaw trailed away. "Because I'm not a fighter, I'm not a warrior even, I'm not passionate about anything enough to fight or die for it. Even though everyone, my whole life, thought I was, just on virtue of being my mentor's little brother. And because of my snarky, 'tough' personality, I guess. Like watching my friends, these other apprentices, work so hard to become great warriors and cur favorability with their mentors, yet I was the one who was always assumed to be the great warrior someday…but I never cared. Like, at all."

"What's the story about your mentor? Your brother?"

"Nothing."

"…?"

"Lightening round." Smokepaw said. "What's the deal with your time powers?"

"My time powers?" Rye purred. "Well, I can stop time, slow time down, speed time up, and stop time for others, including myself. Basically, I can choose the rate at which time passes, either all of time as a whole, time for one or a few others, or time for myself."

"That's really cool," Smokepaw observed.

"Eh…" Rye sighed. "I could have gone for something a little more lethal, but everyone's powers shaped up to be unfortunately tame….I would have liked to have powers that allowed me to rip Scylla's eyes from her bleeding sockets in order to save my universe." She glared stealthily at the horizon.

"Ugh," He mewed. "Why are you and Rust such dramatic lunatics like this? Wait…there are only two of you, right? I'm not supposed to be gearing up for another double-whammy of psychotic alternate-universe Sept cats, right?"

"There is one more!" Rye barked. "As far as I know…before she got herself thrown back in jail."

"The jail where we're going now?"

"Yes."

"Are we going to see her?"

"Not if I can help it."

She had outpaced him by now, so Smokepaw had to rush to keep up with her. She stopped a few fox-lengths ahead, and as Smokepaw approached, he saw something strange glimmering in the air. The closer he got, it materialized: a floating, amorphous gateway hovering in midair. He peered through, and saw white, colorful sand, a stream of pastel oil or whatever, and some light and stuff he was sure Jadepaw would have been thrilled about.

"We're here." Rye growled stonily. She folded her ears back, and stepped daintily through the gateway, appeared to fall, from his perspective, straight forward, and then landed on the sand and lifted her head to look up at him. "Come on!"

"Eugh." Smokepaw grumbled to himself before tumbling after the alien she-cat. The directions of the gates were misaligned, so what would have been the sky above him on Creare was the ground below him on Anima, and it took him a good minute lying in the blindingly white sand to get his bearings.

Rye was sitting up on the sand a few paces ahead, messing with the weird strip of fabric he'd noticed tied to her paw, trying to claw it off with her other paw. Smokepaw dashed and swam across the loose sand to her side. "So what exactly happened with you guys?" He panted pathetically. "Your team? How did you all manage to fall apart and flail so colossally?"

"When it comes to Sept life, teamwork is not a strong suit…" Rye growled with a dark determination, clawing at her leg scarf. "The amount of time we wasted overcoming our own petty hatreds and prejudices took up the vast majority of the countdown, and by the time we realized that Create Space was in stalemate and we were up against far greater odds than we'd originally anticipated…we tried to rally together and focus on fixing Creare…" She finally managed to whack the fabric off her paw, "…it became clear that our inability to work with others was not a learned trait, but an innate one, and therefore impossible to overcome…and that we, in particular, were a group of creators from a universe slated for eradication rather than propagation from the get go, because with or without Creare's stalemate, our own ineptitude would have caused our downfall…"

She looked up at Smokepaw with her cold blue eyes. "A properly functioning Creare doesn't just function as a mechanism for creating new universes, but also as one for determining which universes, and their respective creators, aren't worth continuing at all. And our universe fit the bill."

"Oh."

"In many ways, Creare is like an ultimate test," Rye said. "A Creare not in stalemate, that is. If a team is not able to learn to work together, in a relatively short amount of time – or literally very short, like in your case – then they will fail to meet the requirements for the new universe, therefore eradicating their universe and it's lineage from existence. And if that is the case, essentially that universe was never fit to go on all along."

"Uh...how do you know that?"

"Because of misses sunshine," Rye growled, her muzzle curling into a snarl.

"Who? What? I'm lost. As usual! Nothing new."

 _"Sunny."_ She snarled.

"Is that a cat? Still lost." Smokepaw flopped over onto his side on the warm sand.

"She's my best friend!" Rye snapped. "Or… _was_ my best friend. Until she stabbed our entire team in the back, and proved herself to be a cat acting solely on her own self-interest, time and time again…"

"Sounds dramatic." Smokepaw yawned.

"We failed because we were stupid, every last one of us," Rye assured him, hooking her claws into the fabric and sitting back on her haunches to lift it into the air. "But all she did was make things difficult! We needed her help, and her powers, but her only goal was to kill Scylla, all by herself, without help, and make a big show of what a hard, tough she-cat she really was."

"Wait, didn't you say she might be in Anima's jail? Like, with Jadepaw and Rainpaw?"

Rye's snarl turned into an audible growl. "She better be."

"And if she's not?"

"She has some explaining to do." Rye snarled.

The sand under Smokepaw shifted, and he slipped like an idiot, sliding a few feet down toward the colorful stream they bordered. When he got to his paws and climbed up to Rye again, she'd affixed the red fabric tightly around her eyes like a bright scarf. The tied ends trailed in the breeze behind her head.

"How can you see with that?" He meowed bounding over and still flailing.

"Sight is useless on Anima," she growled darkly. "My other senses will prevail." She lifted her head and scented the air dramatically, her blue fur illuminated in all the white light. "You smell that?"

"No."

"Use your nose, you fool!" Rye snapped. "Surely Clan cats aren't this helpless. A forest is soft food compared to a Tallwalker city, but you _must_ have _some_ sort of survival skills."

Smokepaw sniffed hard, but all he smelled with the bland scentless-ness of Anima's sparkly fantasy sand. "What is it?"

Rye growled again. She really was very menacing, in a sly, cool kind of way. "Associates."

As soon as the word left her mouth, the figure of a cat appeared on the top of the ridge where they loitered. Smokepaw smelled ThunderClan so hard it almost knocked him over, and even though it'd only been two days since he'd left the forest, it still smelled like an ancient, ancient smell from a kithood memory.

"Hey!" He called, bounding up the slope toward it. "Hey, I'm - !" He tried to think of a way to introduce himself, but the context of it all was too weird.

"Smokepaw, watch out!" Rye bellowed behind him, but he didn't stop. Suddenly, he so badly needed to see a forest cat it almost hurt. Didn't matter what Clan they were from. He needed this.

The cat at the top of the slope watched him approach. The stench of ThunderClan was overpowering. It was a she-cat. She wasn't just any ThunderClan cat, though. She was the ThunderClan _leader._ Lightstar. Of ThunderClan. Smokepaw's legs nearly buckled. A white she-cat sporting a long mottled tail and dark almond eyes that, now, appeared empty and lifeless.

"I…" Smokepaw stammered. "L-Lightstar?"

It was as if, abruptly, she noticed him. Her head turned and stared at him, her muzzle drew into a slack smile. "Don't you want to come and say hello?"

"Uh." Smokepaw mewed. "What."

"Smokepaw!" Rye was shouting, bounding up the sandy slope after him. "Get away from her!"

"Shh!" Smokepaw hissed at her. "Lightstar, are you okay? Do you know where you are?" She must be disoriented. It was completely understandable.

"It's so nice to see you again." She smiled emptily.

"Again?" Smokepaw's ears went back. "Are…?"

"Wait here, and I will bring your friends," she said in that same little voice. "Please wait just one moment."

Lightstar turned and walked away, fast, uneven, awkward footsteps over the sand, pattering away and heading behind pastel stone structure on the opposite ridge. As she walked, she began to run, picking up speed.

"DON'T LET HER GET AWAY!" Rye caterwauled, and charged. Lightstar broke into an all-out sprint, flying in a beeline across the sand away from them.

"Rye – WAIT!" Smokepaw yowled, but she was already halfway across the sandy plane to where Lightstar was disappearing toward the horizon, her red scarf flying behind her like a flag, a crimson slice in the uninterrupted white of Anima.

He ran after her as fast as she could, even though both Rye and Lightstar had disappeared behind the stone temple. When he rounded it, he saw a much larger structure approaching in the distance – an entire palace atop a mountain of sand, rapidly drawing closer, and Lightstar was streaking right for it.

But Rye was _fast._ Smokepaw had never seen a cat move that fast. She overtook the ThunderClan leader in heartbeats. By the time Smokepaw reached them, Rye had bowled her over in a cloud of sand, and he arrived in time to watch her sink her teeth into the back of Lightstar's neck, lift her whole body into the air with her powerful maw, shake once, twice, three times, and then drop her, unceremoniously, onto the ground.

Smokepaw, speechless, stopped in his tracks. Rye turned to look at him, her expression soft behind the dramatic blinding scarf, her ears back.

"What did you…?" Smokepaw whimpered.

"I already made that mistake." She growled. "Never again."

"Is she dead?" He whispered, dropping to a crawl and approaching the leader's limp body. There was no sign of resurrection, of other lives kicking into gear. Even that awareness was bone-chilling.

"Sorry."

"What…what mistake?" He couldn't believe this. His head was reeling. He couldn't let Rainpaw see this.

"I saw a Septmate," Rye said darkly. "During my first visit on Anima. For some reason, he was working for Scylla. He was one of her sentinels. He told me to wait there, and he came back with her."

"And?" Smokepaw whimpered.

"We all went to jail," Rye growled. "All of us." She looked down at Smokepaw through her headscarf, cowering beside Lightstar. "We can't have her knowing we're here, or your teammates don't stand a chance."

"She wasn't right," Smokepaw mumbled. Rye had already began to plod on, head lowered, tail almost dragging in the sand, the ridges on her spine and tail swaying side to side as she walked. "That way she was talking? It was like she was…" Rye stopped and looked back at him. He tried to place the word.

"…dead."

 **Sorry for the slowness on this one! Next one should be up no later than the day after tomorrow, as usual. The adventure really starts to pick up in the next chapter.**

 **Also, I've now created a poster for The Land Between! There's a link on my profile under the blurb about the story. (Profile links are screwy so you'll have work with it. If it doesn't work, just ask for the link in a review :) ) It's a drawing that has all four apprentices, the alternate universe cats, Creare, Anima and Animus, and the dais with the apprentices' respective symbols. I really think you guys will enjoy it, check it out! It does contain very slight spoilers for stuff that hasn't been revealed yet, but not enough to worry about. :)**


	16. Wake

_The Land Between, Chapter Sixteen_

Jadepaw's eyes opened fitfully to a hazy beacon of white light.

The nest provided in her cell on Anima was probably the comfiest she'd ever slept in, but to her, it'd come to feel as cold and solid as the stone beneath it.

It was midafternoon, and she'd been filtering in and out of restless sleep for hours. At least, she thought it was midafternoon. It was really disconcerting trying to know how much time had passed inside a kingdom on a planet that was always bathed in relentless light. But she was really trying to make an effort to keep track of things. Rainpaw had left early that morning, leaving her alone in the cell.

By her assumptions, in a few hours, the countdown on Creare would be down to twelve remaining days, two days passed. It didn't sit right with her. Why did Rainpaw get to leave and she didn't? Where were Smokepaw and Rosepaw? How had everything fallen apart so, so quickly?  
Jadepaw tucked her body into the smallest ball she could, legs folded underneath her. She squinted at the gated cell door. She'd been fixing her gaze on it all day, wanting to be prepared, even though the jail was eerily, perpetually silent.

"Where is everyone?" She mewed aloud, comforted by the sound of her own nervous voice. "Where did Rainpaw go? Where are the others?" She really felt like there was a whole world unfolding out there that she was being kept from, locked in this strange jail. Oh what she would do for even one answer!

Maybe it had to do with being a WindClan cat, but the claustrophobia of the cell was making everything worse. If she was in a big open room, with a few other places to go, that would be different. But she couldn't see or hear anything outside of this enclosed pastel cube, and she felt _so_ helpless and useless. And to think about all her bravado about their awesome powers and destiny to the other apprentices! Maybe they'd discover they wouldn't need her help in all this after all.

Jadepaw buried her nose in her chest, squeezing her eyes shut.

But without her help, how would the other three know about what she'd seen with Duskpaw yesterday? Surely they needed to know that, they needed to know something was up. Rainpaw would probably tell them, but Rainpaw…he was kind of gullible and unreliable! It was just the truth. And the dead ShadowClan cat on Creare! Nothing added up. She really thought they were against some dark forces in this place, and the others needed to know!

There was the soft slide of paw pads on sandy stone, and Jadepaw jerked up to see a cat appear on the other side of the bars. Her fur bristled. He was carrying a mouthful of feathers and fuzz in his maw, which he dropped through the bars. She squinted at him. It was Duskpaw!

"Duskpaw!" Jadepaw meowed, getting up and pacing to the gate. "What are you doing here?"

"Fresh bedding for your nest." He said emptily.

Whatever shaking convulsions had overcome him yesterday were gone, but what had taken its place was the same chilling soullessness she'd seen before. "Duskpaw," Jadepaw insisted, pressing against the bars as far as she could. "Do you know what's going on here? Do you know where the others are? Daisyleaf? Heatherstar?"

"Submit a request with me for fresh water and prey." He said.

"Duskpaw…no!" Jadepaw hissed. " _Talk_ to me! What's the matter with you? Please tell me what's going on here, I'm trying to help fix everything!"

"All accommodations for the princess of the moon." He mewed.

"Duskpaw, are you _sick?"_ She hissed. She thought of another tactic. "Can you let me out of here?"

"The queen is on her way." Duskpaw said.

"What?" Jadepaw tried to shove her nose through the bars as he began to move away. "What does Scylla want? What's she doing with you? Duskpaw!" But he'd already turned and wandered off, away from the cell.

Momentarily another set of pawsteps approached. Jadepaw recoiled dramatically in anticipation, confining herself to her nest in the corner, ignoring the fresh bedding Duskpaw had dropped off.

Scylla's face appeared through the gate. She saw Jadepaw and smiled, used her paw to open the gate. "Sorry to leave you waiting, princess," she purred. "Are you hungry?"

Jadepaw felt her ears fold back on top of her head. Her fur bristled, but she tried to hide it. "Who…" she rasped, "…are you."

Scylla tilted her white head to one side, watching her curiously. "Why don't we go up to my quarters and talk? I'll answer all of your questions. I'm sure you're itching to get out of this room. I'm sorry for keeping you so cooped up, it's just, your quarters haven't finished preparations yet."

"My quarters?" Jadepaw growled. "What quarters?"

"My prince and princess each have a tower at the top of the palace, of course!" Scylla purred. "I thought you especially would be excited by that?"

Jadepaw kept her ears folded back. "I don't think there are any quarters. I think you're lying to me."

"Hmm." Scylla sat down on the stone floor. "I think I've set the wrong impression with you. I may have overestimated your enthusiasm and adaptability to Create Space and Anima. You must be really disoriented. I would be too! I know how strange and new all of this is to you. I'm sorry for not better anticipating your discomfort."

"Shh!" Jadepaw hissed bravely, her heart hammering. "I am not disoriented, or discomforted! I've been waiting to arrive her for an entire moon, thanks to my dreams!"

"Princess," Scylla said patiently. "Let's get some food in you, stretch your legs. Come upstairs for dinner." She rose and turned like it was non-negotiable, and after a moment of hesitation, Jadepaw decided consciously to follow. Scylla led her easily out of the cell.

Scylla tried unsuccessfully to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with Jadepaw, but Jadepaw insisted on lingering behind, keeping a green eye trained on the white she-cat. She watched her smooth, narrow tail bob back and forth as she climbed the winding stairs to her quarters. She looked like such an ordinary she-cat! There was nothing special about her whatsoever, even her eye color, a plain, neutral gray, was ordinary. It just made no _sense!_

They reached Scylla's quarters at the top of the stairs. Scylla took to the largest nest, spread across a stone floor coated in runes and designs, illuminated in all the light from the narrow slanted windows all around them. As she entered, Jadepaw dared a peek out one of the windows, and, though at first she was blinded by white light, saw from a very high vantage point, all of Anima – the small planet's horizon curling away into an onslaught of pink and golden clouds. The palace beneath them petered away into the sand. She could also see Creare, budding over the small horizon and visible even through Anima's brilliant white sky, dark purple and red and much larger than Anima.

"It's a nice view, isn't it?" Scylla remarked.

"Where's Rainpaw?" Jadepaw asked her, traipsing into Scylla' quarters and taking a seat nearby.

"He's on his way back to Creare," Scylla said. "He should be back here in no more than a day with the others in tow."

"Why do you want us all here?" Jadepaw insisted. "Why not just meet us all on Creare, where we all were originally anyway?"

"Because I can help you on Anima," Scylla said. "I can't help you on Creare! Creare is neutral; Anima is my domain."

"Why do we need your help?" Jadepaw growled. "And why is there a countdown on the dais?"

"The countdown is to the death of your universe." Scylla said slowly. "And, by extension, the death of your Clanmates."

"See," Jadepaw growled, baring her teeth. "Here is something you forgot to tell me, it seems."

"I didn't want to tell you yesterday, when everything was so new," Scylla mewed. "I wanted to give you time to adapt. But you needn't be afraid at all – as the location creator, the safety of your old universe is purely within your domain."

"What does that mean." Jadepaw whispered.

"It means that you brought your old universe with you into Create Space," Scylla said. "In other words, you _have_ it."

"How can I have a universe? That makes no sense."

"Because your powers aren't evolved, or even yet realized, you have no way of physically accessing it," Scylla explained. "But rest assured it is certainly here on Anima with you. And this is how I can help you. While you, at this point in time, lack the skillset necessary to access your old universe and ensure its protection, I can use my powers to do that for you."

"Like, what, pull the universe out of me?" Jadepaw mewed.

"That's surprisingly close, actually," Scylla asked. "As your powers are realized, princess, you will come to understand that the manipulation of all things in space are purely relative – size, velocity, location. So, would you like me to try?"

"Would this help protect the universe?" She asked.

"Yes, it will bring it physically into existence before you, in a way you can tangibly manipulate and affect." Scylla raised her paw, and it began to glow green, softly at first, and then much brighter. She held it out toward Jadepaw, who took a deep breath, held it, and…

"No." She mewed suddenly, standing up and stepping backward. "No, I think I want to do it on my own."

"But you don't know _how_." Scylla, usually so composed, seemed almost frustrated.

"I'll figure it out when the time comes," Jadepaw defended herself. "I don't see why you need access to my universe right now."

"It seems like I've done something to betray your trust." Scylla sighed. "And I don't understand."

"Well, not really, you haven't…" Jadepaw mewled, feeling suddenly guilty. Scylla had been nothing but kind and helpful, after all. "Well, I guess there was one thing."

"And what was that?"

"Hmm…well, I've seen one of my Clanmates twice now," Jadepaw said. "And both times, he's acted…really…off."

"Oh, of course." Scylla dipped her head with a smile. "Your Clanmates have arrived safely on Anima, but recovering from the transition from your old universe to Anima is a long process for associates – non-creators, like yourself – and that would explain their change in behavior."

"Hmm." Jadepaw thought. "The thing is, he started seizing up and bleeding from his nose and told me to 'get out'."

"He did?" Scylla's eyes opened wider. Her brow furrowed in concern. "Now that is odd."

"It is…" Jadepaw agreed.

"I will look into that." She smiled.

A ThunderClan cat appeared with food, but he said nothing to acknowledge either cat, and wouldn't make eye contact with Jadepaw. She'd lost her appetite, and only picked at the food he provided. Then, Scylla walked her back to her holding cell. "Get some rest, princess," She meowed, closing Jadepaw inside. "Tomorrow morning early we will talk again. We have much to discuss." And she padded off down the hall.

Jadepaw flicked her tail against the stone floor, her earlier isolation quickly setting in. In fact, she felt even worse now than she had before dinner – earlier, her mistrust of Scylla had felt certain and justified, but now, she just didn't know. It was like she had no idea what was real or believable or true or anything! She was just…lost.

Her worry turned into exhaustion that finally won her over, and she felt her eyes bobbing shut, though she tried to fight it, but it was insistent. She was asleep before she knew it.

Jadepaw slowly opened her eyes, peeling them apart to a hazy, roomy shaft of pale light surrounding her and brilliantly illuminating her fur, and the circular, pale green slab of stone she slept on.

Her eyes flew open. She leaped to her feet. As she moved, her fur trailed and sparkled with green light. She looked wildly all around – she was lying atop a narrow tower in an enormous room with a spiraling, arching ceiling, open at the top to let in tons and tons of pale light. She was on Anima, but this was…this was…

Her dreams! Jadepaw's eyes widened with understanding. She'd woken up on her tower in her dream! Of course!

Her claws scattered over the stone beneath her, and she looked down at the rune – it had changed in its telltale style, but now it was something she'd never seen before. She studied it, trying to understand. If only Rosepaw were here! It was merely pictographic, but still perplexing as ever. A long arrow wound through a series of lines and boundaries, beginning at a large circular room with two smaller circles inside, and leading to an X. A map, maybe?

Jadepaw felt a strange sense of urgency, almost a fear within her. She swept the floor below the tower with her eyes, scouting for activity. Nothing felt safe. She studied the rune, trying to memorize it as quickly as she could, in case she woke up abruptly. She followed the path the arrow made. "Left, left, right, left, right, right, right, third left, straight, left, right." She repeated it back to herself over and over.

A slumbering snore came from her right. Jadepaw jerked her head up. There lay Rainpaw's spirit, sleeping soundly on his tower, in deep a sleep as ever. Maybe he could help her! Boldly, she backed up, and then made a flying leap from her tower to his, nearly missing, grabbing the edge of his tower only with her front paws, and having to claw her way to safety.

"Rainpaw!" She hissed when she stood beside him. She went to push on his shoulder with her paw, but her paw sunk right through him, and she saw clearly that beneath the sparkles of red light that danced and illuminated his black and white fur, he was somewhat translucent, almost like a mirage. She hissed in frustration. "Rainpaw, wake up! I need your help!"

"Snooooooore," Rainpaw emitted.

"Oh, fine!" Jadepaw spat, and took the path that wound around his tower down to the floor. But now that she thought of it…had the rune depicted the room she was in now as the start of the arrow's path? The circle, the smaller circles...did they correspond with her and Rainpaw's dream towers?

There wasn't time to speculate. Jadepaw boldly dashed out of the room, following the arrow's directions in her mind, chanting them aloud as she raced through the winding hallways of Scylla's palace. Why did his place, which had once filled her with wonder, now fill her with trepidation and dread?

Jadepaw ran. Even with the arrow's path memorized, it was still hard to follow, as many of the hallways and stairwells and archways in the palace were small and narrow, or looked alike, or seemed to double back on themselves. She saw an arch that lead to a familiar hallway, and saw the entrance to the winding stairwell to Scylla's quarters. And to her right, another hallway. Oh yes! She took the final right, and emerged in the hallway along which faced the jail cell doors.

Jadepaw slowed to a walk, padding as quietly as she could, counting down the bright, empty cells to her own. She crept forward in nervous anticipation as she saw the gate to hers – and as it came into view, she saw herself inside, through the gate, sleeping fitfully on her stomach, eyes scrunched shut, paws tucked up to her chest.

"Heh." Jadepaw mewed. So the map on her tower had led her to her jail cell. Hmm. She swiftly inspected the gate. It appeared to open by a simple pressure-activated lever only accessible from the outside. Daringly, she pressed her paw to it, hardly expecting anything to happen, but to her surprise, the lever buckled under her touch with a creak. The gate loosened, and swung free.

Astonished, Jadepaw gaped at it as it silently, slowly crept open. She looked up and down the hall, as if expecting someone to have witnessed what just happened. She was about to race back to her tower, but had a better idea. "Jadepaw!" She hissed to the she-cat slumbering anxiously inside the cell. "Psst, Jadepaw! Wake–"

And just like that, she was gone.

Jadepaw opened her eyes with a jolt, leaping straight to her paws. Before her, the gate to her cell was half-open, waiting expectantly. She raced forward and peered through it, up and down the hall, almost like she was expecting to see her sleeping spirit rounding the corner, but there was nothing there, and no scent left over.

Her heart began to race. Her head spun. She crawled around the open gate, and stepped into the empty hall. She padded silently down it, stopping every few steps to listen for activity. She knew she had to move fast – as fast as she could, in fact. And she didn't know where she was going, so she would have to be bold. She had to make a real break for it. It really was now or never!

She broke into a run, moving at breakneck speed, her paws pattering over the smooth pastel stone as she dashed down the palace's hallways, taking the first turns she came across. Her first goal: find her Clan. Nothing mattered until they were accounted for, until she knew they were safe. And Scylla had said that they were at the heart of Anima, which, as far as Jadepaw could presently imagine, had to mean down within the insides of the planet itself. There was no time to sit around brainstorming alternatives!

The first stairwell heading downward, she took. She followed it to a long, sunny landing. Through the windows she could see the hallway was level with the sandy surface of Anima outside – which meant the next staircase would take her below the surface. When she happened upon it, it was obvious that as much was true. The staircase wound into a colorful darkness, dark enough it dissapeared from view. It had been illuminated by clumps and small smatterings of luminescent Anima sand littering the steps themselves, but it was nothing like being bathed in the white light of the planet's surface.

The stairwells wound and wound. They seemed to get steeper, darker, and more claustrophobic the farther she went, even though the path she followed seemed well used and well-trodden, the steps worn from ages of use. As she approached the true heart of the darkness, she began to smell it: Clan cats.

At first she just got a hearty whiff of ThunderClan, but then smelled WindClan as well, and as she approached, slowing her helter-skelter dash, it became thick and pungent, almost overwhelming. It was too strong, actually. Alarmingly strong, like too many cats in the same place. Oh noooo, she thought. She almost didn't want to continue on. It was too upsetting! But she steeled herself to keep moving. Really, her Clanmates were depending on her. As a medicine cat apprentice, she'd never imagined it would be in a context such as this, but, here she was.

The stairs leveled out to a long, enclosed hallway, with an uptick in the level of light visible at the opposite end. From the same end, there came a slow, deep rumbling.

Jadepaw padded as quietly as she could, tail down, fur bristling dramatically. She tried to peer into the darkness of the hallway, and see what was being illuminated up ahead, but it was too dark and hazy down here. It was warm, too, and not the delightful, sunny feeling of the surface, but a dank, humid, smothering heat that didn't smell too great either.

At the end of the hallway, the Clan scent was absolutely stifling. Jadepaw padded on trembling paws through the archway into an expansive dark room, crouching and keeping to the edges, and instantly saw what was causing the overwhelming smell of Clan cats, as well as the dark rumbling she'd been hearing.

The low stone ceiling was covered in cats. Two full Clans-worth of cats.

At first, Jadepaw was overwhelmed by horror, almost cowering into the floor in fear, breaking down and falling apart right there. But she forced herself to stay brave and break down later when she was safe again. She gaped at the ceiling. Each cat had been hooked up to the stone by a network of strange tubes that connected from various parts along their spines to the stone roof itself. And each of them lolled, heads down, eyes closed calmly – none seemed the least bit uncomfortable.

And that was how Jadepaw realized none of them were dead at all. They were all _asleep!_

And the rumbling she'd heard was the sound of two entire Clans of cats engaging in a massive, collective snoring all at the same time.

Asleep or not, seeing an entire room full of her Clanmates tied to the ceiling was enough to have Jadepaw walking with shaking rubber legs, tail as puffed up as it could go. She began to walk through the room, ears back and dodging dangling paws and legs and tails. To her left she saw the figure of a gray tabby tom, strung up and dangling from the roof, and his scent gave him away through his idle snores. It was Heatherstar. Her leader.

"Heatherstar?" She mewed in a tiny squeak of a voice. She nudged his rear paw with her nose. "Hello?"

He let out a snorting snore, totally unaware of her. She was going to keep trying to rouse him, but something else caught her eye behind him: a stocky tortoiseshell, paws and tail dragging, head lolling sleepily.

Jadepaw scrambled to her side. "Daisyleaf!" She meowed, bumping her violently with her forehead, until the WindClan medicine cat was swaying from side to side. "Daisyleaf, wake up! Wake up, you have to wake up!" She even unleashed her claws and began railing on her poor mentor, enough to draw blood. "Wake up!" She pleaded. "I need you! Please!"

Daisyleaf, like Heatherstar, emitted a vapid snore as her only response.

Jadepaw finally just gave up. It was obvious none of these cats could be awoken. She continued through the room, keeping her eyes down so as not to see her Clanmates sleeping, compromised forms.

Through an archway on the other side of the room, a few steps lead to a raised stone surface she inadvertently climbed atop, and her paws slipped on something slick and wet beneath her. When she looked down, she saw blood. There was blood everywhere, cat blood, Clan blood, spread all over the stone and in various degrees of drying – some days old, some less than an hour.

"Oh StarClan…" Jadepaw rasped in horror, her eyes flying wide as she fell over herself trying to back away. Even still, her pawpads were sticky with it now. She leaped off the raised surface and ran desperately around it, expecting to find an exit, but instead, she almost collided with a bunch of cats.

A bunch of her Clanmates, and ThunderClan too.

They were lined up in perfect, even rows, all standing in the same rigid position, paws aligned, tails aligned. There were almost fifteen of them total. And though Jadepaw ran straight into their eyeline, none seemed to notice her.

Their eyes were round and blank, absent.

Standing in the first row was Mousefoot, one of the best fighters in her Clan. His gaze was slack.

"Mousefoot?" Jadepaw whispered in the tiniest voice she had.

He neither acknowledged her nor moved. His eyes stayed trained ahead, in line with the other rows of cats.

"Hello princess and thank you very much," he said suddenly. Without looking at her.

Jadepaw crept backward, away from him, keeping her eyes on him, on the entire group of them, and she swore she was going to hurl. She glanced to her left and saw a small opening on the side of the room, and when she approached it and looked in, she saw it was narrow and trodden, winding almost directly up, likely straight to the surface of Anima.

Time to make a break for it.

Jadepaw ducked inside, put her first paw on one of the rung-like steps inside, when a voice came behind her.

"Don't."

She whipped around. It was Mousefoot. Though he was in the exact same position as before, his eyes had moved. They'd fixed on her. Right on her, really seeing her this time.

"Don't. Do. It." He said in a tense little voice.

"…"

"Go. Back." He managed to get out. "To. Your. Cell."

"I need to get out of here," Jadepaw whispered.

"Go. Back." He insisted. "Don't. Risk. It."

"No, I –"

"Trust. Me."

"But, I have to get out of here!" She hissed.

"So nice to meet you, and enjoy." Mousefoot rambled. His locked, dire gaze was gone. His eyes were slack.

Jadepaw set her jaw. "Okay." She said, even though she had no idea if he could hear her. She turned around and traveled around the shiny bloody surface, and all the way back through the room of sleeping Clan cats, to the hallway and stairwell on the other side.

She retraced her footsteps, but on the first landing of the first winding stairwell she got lost. Two identical hallways branched away from her, and she chose the left, even though a dark feeling inside her told her that was the wrong way. But it seemed okay after all, at least in the time it took her to get out of the palace's underground wings and back to the light of the surface. Oh, she had never been more relieved to see light! The pastel prettiness of the surface was back.

But this path seemed different than the one she'd taken. Really different. It felt deserted, unused, private. An archway at the end of the hallway she followed led out of the palace altogether, into an outer courtyard that seemed equally deserted, and bathed in the shade of the tower it bordered. When she looked up at the tower's outer wall, she saw it reached all the way to the sky and towered over head. At the very top, it was larger and roomier, demarcated with several skinny windows.

It had to be Scylla's chambers. Which meant Jadepaw wasn't actually too far from the jail, as long as she could get back into the palace. As she followed the interior wall of the courtyard, she saw something, tacked up along the wall ahead of her.

She approached curiously, and saw a tail. A dismembered cat tail, pinned to the stone wall of the castle.

Farther down, there was another. And another. And then another and another until the pastel stone bricks were completely coated in them. Tail after tail after tail. And they all seemed to belong to cats, but some of them were unusual, like they were unusually long or short, or donned ridges or split in two or seemed positively alien. They stood together like an army.

Jadepaw glanced over her shoulder in horror, but there was nobody between her and the exterior wall of the palace. She glanced all the way up at Scylla's quarters. Like maybe the queen would be watching her through one of the windows. And then she looked back at the tails. She couldn't stop looking at them. They just kept coming and coming. Tail after tail after tail.

And just like the tails had begun, they were gone. The walk ahead was empty. An archway lead back into the palace.

Jadepaw ran into the archway like her life depended on it.

 **So, there's some illumination as to what's going on with the Clans and what's happening in Scylla's palace. Although I guess it raises just as many questions as it answers, haha. Please review! Who's tails are tacked on the palace wall? What's the deal with the Clan cats? Also, remember to check out The Land Between's** **poster** **that I drew, which is linked on my profile! Thanks guys!**


	17. Rise

_The Land Between, Chapter Seventeen_

"Are you sure we're going the right way?"

"Yep!" Sunny, marching beside Rainpaw, crunched quickly over the pearly white sand. "I've taken the path from Anima to Creare many times before!"

"Just sort of seems like ounce after ounce of blinding sand," Rainpaw mewed, squinting toward the stretch of white sand dunes and intermittent pastel ponds and streams ahead. "It seems we've been walking a lot longer than when Scylla led Jadepaw and me here."

"We're not going that way!" Sunny assured him. "Do you really think we're going to take the main gate to Creare where everyone else comes and goes? That doesn't seem very practical when you're trying to sneak around and break some rules, does it?"

"Why do we have to break rules?" Rainpaw asked.

"Because that's what rules are for. They're fake constraints to make you think there are limits to what you can and cannot do. Who says it's up to Create Space and Scylla to define its limitations! Not me." She smiled boldly, prowling across the sand, her spiky, jagged tail hovering just inches above it behind her. "When this was my adventure, I spent a lot of time on Anima. I found a back way to travel to and from Creare. Anima is covered in gateways that to lead to locations all over Creare. Do you really think Scylla has time to take only the main gate and walk _aaaaaall_ over like that?"

"Wow, Sunny, you really do know a lot about all this!" Rainpaw observed.

"I know! It's why I'm such a powerful creator."

"Oh yeah," Rainpaw said. "Now that we're out of the jail, can you show me your powers?"

"You want to see my powers?" Sunny smiled. She stopped and turned to face him, her red fur almost as blindingly bright as the white sand. She deftly drew her clawed paw through the air between them, producing a shower of water where it had traveled. It splattered to the sand between them.

She made a thoughtful expression. "Hmm…" Instead of water this time, she drew a flurry of jutting metal spikes, that stabbed themselves from the sand by her feet into the air in Rainpaw's direction. He startled and leaped back, almost tripping over himself. "Whoa, jeez!" He yelped.

"Hahaha! Hahaha!" Sunny was laughing. "What do you think? The trick is getting creative."

"I don't know, it seems kind of scary to me," Rainpaw said. They began to walk again, leaving the spikes and wet sand she'd created behind her.

"I should hope so!" Sunny remarked. "What's the point of having powers if they aren't scary and dangerous?"

"Yeah, Smokepaw's are kind of like that, except it's just these weird black holes that kind of destroy everything in their path."

"Don't even talk about that." Sunny said shortly. "I'm so jealous, I could scream."

"Yeah, he's a total weenie about it though," Rainpaw giggled. "Always complaining about how stupid he thinks it is and how he wants nothing to do with it."

"What!" Sunny snapped. "What a wuss. That is disappointing, to say the least. He should want to be great, like you are going to be."

"I am?"

"Of course you are, that's why you've teamed up with me." Sunny decided flatly. "You have no idea what's in store for you, Rainpaw. Are you excited?"

"I think so!" He mewed.

"Good! You should be." They reached another stream, and Sunny paused for a moment, and then used both of her paws to create a fallen wooden oak lying across it. Rainpaw followed her, hopping onto the trunk and padding carefully across it.

"So, where does your secret backway lead to?" Rainpaw. "On Creare, I mean?"

"Very close to the dais," Sunny explained. "Which is also very close to my teammates' hideout! They all thought it was a good idea to hide out that close to the dais for some reason, which is really stupid if you ask me, but hey, they didn't!"

"Okay," Rainpaw said. "The thing is, I don't know where my friends are for sure. The last I remember, they were sleeping on the dais, but that was over a day and a half ago. And then Jadepaw and I left to go explore, and went with Scylla to Anima. I really hope they're okay…I'm afraid the might have gotten so worried they did something dangerous. Good StarClan, I just want everyone to be together again, and to be okay."

"Yes." Sunny agreed. They hopped off the other side of the trunk and climbed up the sandy hill on the opposite side, shoulder-to-shoulder. She looked sideways at him with an exuberant smile on her lively, slightly-crazy face. She had one huge snaggletooth and then another that looked like it had actually snapped off at some point. "Don't worry, they can't have gone far. Even if they wandered off on Creare, it's still a big stupid red desert. It's not too hard to find somewhere there. And we're headed to the dais first anyway."

"So are we going to look for your teammates first?" Rainpaw asked.

"Yep! Considering they should all be close by."

"Huh…" Rainpaw laughed. "I have to admit I'm a little nervous to meet more of you."

"They're nothing like me." Sunny said darkly.

"What do you mean?"

"They're pansies." Sunny growled. "Imagine me, if I wasn't so confident and brash all the time."

"That doesn't sound too horrible," Rainpaw observed blandly. "You don't speak of them in a very positive light. I mean, I wasn't too sold on Smokepaw right away, but even so I still consider him a friend and someone who's really important, both to me and my friends' mission, and someone I would probably put my life on the line for if I had to!"

"Yeah, well, I've gotten the sense you Earth cats were pretty soft," Sunny lamented. "It wasn't like that on Aster, alright?"

"I know, but you weren't _on_ Aster when you were with your teammates, you were here, so…"

"I don't know, they all just thought I was a jerk." The red alien she-cat said shortly. "New subject."

"I think you seem pretty cool!" Rainpaw supplied. He felt bad about drudging stuff up that was obviously a little raw for her. He was really liking talking to her because he'd never met a cat so unabashedly sure of themselves, but she was also pretty intimidating, and the idea of saying the wrong thing made him nervous. "I think we would have gotten along well if I was one of your teammates."

"Yes, I agree," She said slyly. "How old are you, by the way?"

"How old am I?" Rainpaw smiled. "Well, I'm a little over seven moons."

"Like, months?" She clarified. "Huh! That's how old I am! But I was three months when I arrived in Create Space, which was four months ago. My whole team was, actually. I think Creare was a little more forgiving on you Clan cats, age-wise!"

"Wow, three moons old where I come from is still totally kit-hood." Rainpaw informed her. "You don't even go out into the forest at that age."

"Wow, that sounds so boring!" Sunny said shortly. "In Sept life a kitten comes of age at two months. That's when we have the Ultimate Test and get assigned a tutor and become a junior."

"That sounds awful!" Rainpaw said. "I guess I won't contest that Clan cats are probably much softer that you guys."

"Yep!" After a moment, she glanced at him. "That doesn't make you upset?"

"No," Rainpaw said thoughtfully. "Because even if we were softer than a bunch of crazed and violent Sept cats from a city universe, we definitely weren't soft. And everything felt right, you know? Apprentices coming of age at six moons, warrior names, growing up in the nursery…it all felt like a big, ancient tradition that you were participating in, and a part of."

"Oh. Hmm. I guess there wasn't much of a tradition sense to Sept life." Sunny said blankly, staring ahead as she walked. "It was more a sense of efficiency, and necessity." She looked at him with a big wide smile. "I don't care if you're softer than me though. I like you anyway. By the time you get to the new universe and I'm done with you, you'll be one of the strongest beings to have ever existed."

"Cool!" Said Rainpaw.

A scattering of old and crumbling stone temples appeared in the distance, and they had to walk around a shimmery pastel pond to reach it. "Ugh!" Sunny groaned loudly while they were walking together. "Walking is so slow and boring! I hate it."

"It really is pretty boring," Rainpaw agreed.

"Yeah. I wish you could fly." She sighed dramatically.

"I agree, that would be pretty sweet!" Rainpaw asked. They walked in silence for a while. "Wait, what do you mean by that? Can _you_ fly?"

"Haha, of course I can fly!" Sunny turned another smile on him, and then lifted straight and effortlessly into the air above them, stopped and hovered, bobbing slightly, a couple fox-lengths above his head.

"Uh…" Rainpaw struggled for words.

Sunny flew higher into the air, going faster and faster, and then flipped and dropped straight for the ground, stopping herself just before slamming headlong into the sand. She hovered again, this time almost at his eye level. "Flying is great! It's so fun and really the most practical means of transportation in this place."

"How?" Rainpaw asked, agape. "Is that a Sept cat thing?"

"Hahaha, Sept cats wish!" Sunny dismissed. "No, Rainpaw. It's a thing for creators that prove themselves to be even halfway decent in this place, which unsurprisingly isn't many!"

"How?" He asked.

Sunny, hovering midair, began to move in the direction they'd been traveling, keeping up with Rainpaw's walking pace, but it was pretty weird. He didn't tell her that though. "It's called evolving." She said.

"Evolving?"

"Yes, evolving. All good creators should have evolving as one of their ultimate goals before they create the new universe. When you evolve, you gain the power of flight, and 'realize' your powers, as it were."

"What does it mean to realize your powers?"

"Well, it's different for every creator, obviously, because each class of powers are different. But from what I understand, it basically does away with the thinking and confusion and novice that comes with being a new, unevolved creator such as yourself. It transforms your powers from a clunky ability to an intuitive skill you have complete mental mastery over."

"I could sure use that," Rainpaw sighed. "I think me and time travel are kind of a recipe for disaster."

"It really is great," Sunny agreed, dropping to the ground and switching to a walk.

"So you guys all were able to evolve?" Rainpaw asked. "Even though you failed at creating the universe?"

"Haha, no way!" Sunny laughed. "Only me! None of those wimps ever had it in them."

"So, is it hard?"

"It's not… _hard,_ exactly," she considered. "It involves your spirit that sleeps on Anima."

"Oh yeah. That guy."

"Actually…" Sunny was musing. "If you wanted, I might be able to help you evolve."

"Really?"

"Yes. Having me there to help you may make the process a lot easier for you than it was for me."

"Do you think it would be a good idea?" Rainpaw wondered.

"Of course it would be a good idea! It would be the _best_ idea. If you want to evolve, we'll have to go visit the dais. But considering we'll be taking the gateway straight there in a little bit here, what if you decide when you get there? I'm not going to push you or pressure you about this. The decision really is up to you."

"Okay, wow, I need to think about it," He meowed. "I don't know, for some reason the idea makes me kind of nervous?"

"Of course it does," said Sunny. "Just think about it, alright?

"Okay," he said.

They walked in silence for a little while, both probably thinking about Sunny's proposition. As much as Rainpaw wanted to give it a shot, he really wasn't sure what was involved, and he still wasn't completely sure he could trust Sunny. And it seemed like it'd be easy to hurtle down an exciting and winding adventure with her and get distracted from what was really going on: finding and warning Smokepaw and Rosepaw, and getting Jadepaw out of jail.

"How much do you know about your time powers?" Sunny asked, as they entered the scattered, crumbling runes they'd seen on the other side of the pond and wove between the strewn and fallen pastel stones.

"Actually, I haven't used any time travel since I arrived here," Rainpaw said. "I don't trust my powers. The last time I tried to use time travel to my advantage, I ended up creating another version of myself who stole my life from me, and now I'm marooned here like a freak and my Clan is missing."

"You can time travel?" Sunny whispered, narrowing her eyes. "Wow, that's so much cooler than what our time creator could do. Her powers were so wimpy and weak, Rust literally saw all of our Septmates dying in the future, and Rye did nothing to change it! All she did was slow time down a few times to buy us some extra time. And guess what that did! Nothing."

"Wow, you really sound like you hate her," Rainpaw asked. "Maybe she really was trying her best? I don't want to talk up my powers like they're any better than hers, because I clearly have no idea how to use them."

"She could have been great, if she'd listened to me." Sunny growled. "Nobody ever listened to me! Nobody in my team realized that if you wanted to save anyone, you had to put your own life on the line. And Rye was the worst offender. She would always talk everyone out of going along with my plans, leaving me to handle everything on my own. She and Rust were such a little team, I swear. They wouldn't proceed with anything unless they thought everyone would be safe. And then one day I got sick of it, and I took matters into my own paws, and I went too far."

"What did you do?"

"It doesn't matter," Sunny said. "The point is, I went too far. And as a result, I lost my best friendship and the support of my teammates."

"That's awful," Rainpaw mewed. "I'm really sorry, I can't imagine how rough that must have been."

"It's alright." She shrugged. "I'm still here, and one of the strongest creators in Create Space, so I'm still going to do whatever I can to defeat Scylla, end Creare's stalemate, and make the universe. I'm serious, I'll create the new universe by whatever means necessary."

"So, do you think you could help me understand my time powers, then?" Rainpaw asked.

"Nope!" Sunny chirped. "Manipulation is my deal, not time."

"Oh."

"But I can help you in other ways," she smiled craftily, and nodded to an opening in one of the crumbled ruins. Just inside hovered a gate, far smaller than the one Rainpaw had taken to get to Anima yesterday. It showed through to Creare's red sand, cloaked in the ruin's shade. "After you, Rainpaw of ThunderClan."

Rainpaw stepped slowly inside, and found himself smothered in scratchy, bristly bushes at the base of one of the towering rock outcroppings on Creare. He flailed around for a minute, and finally broke free from the bush, Sunny right behind him.

"You okay?" She asked in amusement.

"Blah!" He spit sand out. "Yes, fine." Behind him, he could see the dais making a speck in the sand in the distance. "So where are your teammates supposedly hiding?"

"Other side of the dais." Sunny pointed her tail in the direction they were starting to head. "In an old underground hollow under another of these rocky outcroppings."

"Okay," Rainpaw mewed. He noticed something tied around the red fur on Sunny's right paw, like a tiny strand of white string. "Hey, what is that?" He asked.

"This?" She looked at it. "Oh nothing, just a decoration I like to wear."

"Sounds weird, but alright," Rainpaw offered. They had reached the dais, and he stepped up onto the stone surface and began to pad across it to his quadrant with the time symbol. On the central structure, the pawprint symbol for each quadrant still blinked idly with the vacant red lights. He hopped on top to check the countdown inside it, half-curious if maybe it had gone away or something. But nope. Sunny hopped up beside him and read it aloud. "Twelve days, three hours, fourteen minutes and twenty two seconds. Good luck! Hahaha."

"I thought only Rosepaw could read that?" Rainpaw asked.

"Yeah, but it's easy to figure out once you start looking at it enough," Sunny mewed idly. "For me, it got to the point my teammates and I were checking it constantly." Rainpaw hopped back down onto the dais's flat surface, his paws padding silently over the cold, sandy stone.

"So?" Sunny asked behind him.

"So what?"

"What do you think? Would you like to evolve?"

He walked around the structure to look at her. She stood, waiting patiently, on the spiral manipulation symbol on Smokepaw's quadrant. "Why am I so nervous?" Rainpaw meowed.

"Because, like all things unknown, it's scary." Sunny said simply. "And that is why I won't push or persuade you either way."

"Well, what's involved? What would I have to do?" He slowly wandered around to the time quadrant on the opposite side of the dais.

"I really can't tell you," Sunny said, tracing her spiky tail in the dusty sand scattered across the manipulation symbol. "I'd only have to show you."

"Hmm." Rainpaw inspected the enormous hourglass carving in the stone's flat surface. "But I would be able to fly, right?"

"Of course you would. Instantly. No learning curve required." Sunny smiled, her fanged snaggletooth gleaming.

"Well…" He sat down slowly and gazed at the symbol, as if it was speaking to him. "Why not."

Sunny smiled widely.

"Okay, Sunny." Rainpaw stood up, setting his paws firmly. "Show me how to evolve."

Sunny walked over to where he stood. "Stand right on your symbol, just like that…" she instructed, coming right up beside him. "And look me in the eyes."

He looked into her brilliant, bright red eyes, his paws planted squarely on the enormous time symbol. A shiver of nerves traveled down his spine, from his head to the tip of his black and white tail. He took a deep breath and let it slowly out of his mouth.

Sunny came to a stop right in front of him, her face a mere mouse length away. Her dark, sly smile grew until it was stretching all the way across the tiny miniscule feathers covering her face. "Hold your breath, Rainpaw." She whispered.

Rainpaw took a deep lungful and sealed it within.

Sunny's eyes grew round and huge, her brow furrowed darkly, and her pupils constricted to tiny slits. Her face recoiled into a wild snarling grin, all of her big white teeth shining in the light of Anima orbiting Creare's horizon above.

She leaned back and slammed her paw against the dais in front of him. Where it had hit, a metal spike, just like the ones she'd created for him earlier, jutted out of the stone and stabbed him through the chest.

A squeal of breath was sealed tight in Rainpaw's chest. The force of the spike had pushed him back and it kept him paralyzed in place, his paws hovering an inch above the stone surface. He attempted to flail them up and down, but the sheer shock from the stabbing made it near impossible to move.

"Hahahaha!" Sunny began cackling, lifting straight into the air above him until she rose from view. "Hahaha! Bye Rainpaw! Bye! Hahaha! Hahahahahaha!" Her cackling laughter morphed to a bouncing echo above him as she soared high, high into the sky and raced away in the direction of Anima, laughing the whole time, until she became a tiny red speck and disappeared.

A trickle of blood dribbled down Rainpaw's chest and down the metal of the spike lodged through his body and dripped onto the stone dais beneath him. He struggled to breathe, his vision turning white, his hearing failing, being taken over by a ring of white noise. It occurred to him to call for help, but he couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't think…

The drop of blood became a running puddle. He registered everything turning white, _everything_ , and then it was over.

On Anima, ending its orbit around Creare for the day, sliding from the horizon to be replaced by Animus, a magical metamorphosis began to take place.

In the center of Scylla's place, inside the enormous, spacious chamber where Jadepaw and Rainpaw's spirits slept, a brilliant beam of white light shone through the opening on the top, pointing straight into Anima's shimmery pastel sky and farther still, all the way through the area of space between Anima and Creare, and met squarely on the dais's flat surface.

Inside the sleeping chamber, Rainpaw's spirit, translucent and as of yet eternally asleep, lifted into the air, floated off his little tower and rose, slowly, up through the opening on the roof, traveling upwards inside the blinding beam of white light.

At a certain height, high above Scylla's palace and the chamber, the light changed to a pure, brilliant red, the entire beam, from Anima to Creare, started emitting tiny dancing pinpricks of red light. All of Creare and Anima were bathed in red light, brighter and brighter until everything seemed to have been turned red and the tiny pinpricks spread far across the surfaces of both planets.

Inside her jail cell on Anima, a blinding shaft of light cut through the long narrow window and hit Jadepaw in the face, so bright she had to squint her eyes as she tried to peer through the window and see what was occurring outside.

Also on Anima, Smokepaw and Rye, lurking just outside the boundaries of Scylla's palace, had to stop their quest in its path to protect their eyes from the red light as they looked skyward at the enormous beam of white and red light shooting from Scylla's palace to Creare beyond.

Back on Creare, nearby the dais where Rainpaw's slain body was disappearing into a burst of white and red sparks of light, Rosepaw and Rust scrambled from the depths of their underground hiding place to bathe in the light and witness where the beam of red light met the dais and blinded all of Creare around them.

Suspended high above the sleeping chamber in Scylla's palace on Anima, Rainpaw opened his eyes.

The light faded and disappeared. The beam he'd been suspended in vanished, returning Anima and Creare to their normal states. He hovered motionlessly, high in the sky.

Far in the distance, he saw a speck zigzagging through the air toward him, growing very quickly closer until abruptly Sunny appeared and stopped, hovering level with him, several fox lengths away.

He saw her wide, crafty smile, the light shining on her single fang.

"Well?" She called. "What do you think?"

 **Please review!**


	18. Intrude

_The Land Between, Chapter Eighteen_

"StarClan, that was bright! I can't see a thing!" Smokepaw spat, pawing at his eyes like he'd been blinded. "You're lucky you blinded yourself with that stupid headscarf thing!"

"I can see just as well as you can." Rye growled, still staring skyward, where, a moment ago, the sky had been so brilliantly bright red you could barely see anything else.

"What was that?" Smokepaw begged. "Are we dying? Are we dead? Did we die and now we're dead?"

"We're not dead." Rye looked around, but the red light was gone, and Anima had resumed exactly the way it was before. "And I don't know. The last time I saw something like that was months ago, when…"

"When what?"

"When Sunny evolved." Beneath her headscarf, her brow furrowed. "But that time, it was all orange, and it didn't have anything to do with Anima, it was all this light on Animus, and I don't know, she never explained what it meant."

"What's 'evolved'?" Smokepaw asked, blinking his eyes open and shut a bunch of times.

"It's…it's kind of…" Rye struggled to explain, holding both paws up as if to demonstrate a physically tangible thing. "It's like realizing your powers in such a way that you can fly, and some other stuff. Dunno, it never happened to me, couldn't figure it out for some reason, and Sunny was too stuck up to ever explain _how_ you did it."

"Sounds dumb," Smokepaw observed.

"Yeah, and I don't know of anyone here who would be evolving," Rye was thinking out loud. "I mean all four of you wimps just got here a couple days ago and you're all really terrible creators, so. And nobody left from my team could evolve anymore, 'cause all our sleep selves died when Create Space was reset. It must be something else." She decisively lost interest. "We should keep moving. It's not good to hang out in one place so long out here."

They were standing just outside Scylla's palace, in the meager shade provided by the enormous stone wall bordering it, and had been slowly tracing their way around it, sticking right to the wall and moving swiftly, and they'd stopped to watch the red metamorphosis happening in the sky. Rye started to move again, leading the way along the boundary with Smokepaw close behind, trying not to get too close to her spiky tail.

"Now, listen, Smokepaw," Rye said seriously from in front of him, "As soon as we get inside this wall, we can't use our powers anymore. That's how Scylla's palace works. You have to understand that, and prepare yourself for that. Okay?"

"Why would I care about that?" Smokepaw asked flatly. "I'm not using my powers, ever. For all I care, this entire place could be like Scylla's palace. I truly do not care one bit."

"Well, what if we got in a tight spot where you would be forced to use them because our lives depended on it?"

"No. Not even then." Smokepaw was obstinate.

"You would rather die?" He could tell she didn't believe him.

"Yep. Don't care."

Rye stopped and turned around to look at him, or she would if her eyes hadn't been covered by a bright red strip of trailing fabric. "Wait, what are your powers again? What even are you? Time? Psyche?"

"Manipulation," Smokepaw mumbled, gagging on it.

"Manipulation?" Rye slowly sat back on the sand, seeming to have forgotten her prior urgency. "Whoa."

"Whoa?"

"Just…Sunny was manipulation. Manipulation is scary. Manipulation makes you the fighter."

"Funny joke," Smokepaw said, without laughing.

"So can you, kind of, make stuff in the air with your paws? Like enormously sharp and deadly objects out of sand that are capable of impaling any living creature and ensuring they die a painful and violent death? Hahaha that's what Sunny liked to do. Oh, the blood! Practically had the sand on Creare turning into clay with all that blood."

"…No." Smokepaw looked at her dryly. "That's _horrifying._ "

"So, what _can_ you do?" Rye pressed.

"Oh, well, hahaha, I can kind of, like my paws are erasers or something. Or used to be, when I actually let my powers be a thing at all."

"Whaaat?" Rye's ears perked up.

"Almost like, my paws would destroy everything they touched, and tear these…things…in space that were almost…like a black, empty hole."

Rye raised a paw to swipe her headscarf off her eyes and stare blankly at him. "I didn't know this." She mewled.

"Why do you even care?"

"I guess I just…well, I didn't think you were manipulation for some reason. I guess I was really stuck on imagining a manipulation creator to be insanely gung-ho and violent and thirsty for a fight, because that's how _ours_ was. I thought maybe you were psyche or, I don't know, just not…" She shook her head a little. Her voice was soft, and honest. "I didn't…I didn't know you had a power like that. I'm sorry."

"Don't sweat it." Smokepaw shrugged. "It's not like I care in any possible capacity."

"Okay, well…" Rye seemed kind of weird, like her cool exterior had been compromised or she seemed weirdly empathetic or something. But then she turned around, pushed her headscarf back over her eyes, and carried on.

Not long later they came to a stop. Rye nodded her head at a sturdy iron grate half disappearing into the sand at the base of it, through which a dark tunnel could be seen retreating below. Her long-clawed paws scrabbled at the sand. Nervously, Smokepaw helped her dig, until they'd uncovered enough of it they could both nudge their noses under it and lift it up enough to slip underneath. Smokepaw slid unceremoniously down the first few tail-lengths of sand into the bottom of the tunnel where it evened out.

"How do you know about this tunnel?" Smokepaw asked, and his voice echoed and bounced around them.

"You need to be very quiet," Rye hissed. "Scylla's sentinels are undoubtedly crawling all over this place – your Clanmates. And you must not treat them like your Clanmates, do you understand? You must not approach or speak to a single one. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, I got it after you violently murdered the ThunderClan leader in front of me an hour ago." Smokepaw rolled his eyes, but he did lower his voice. "I just want to get in and get out of here. Do you know how to get to the jail?"

"I think so," Rye hissed. "This is the tunnel we took to escape when my teammates and I broke out several months ago. It should lead into the castle, near the jail, but also very close to Scylla's quarters, so we need to be very careful."

"Yeah." Smokepaw whispered, as they padded down the tunnel side by side. "How was it you broke out the first time, exactly?"

"Well…" Rye's ears went back. "We had help. From Sunny."

"What did Sunny do?"

"Sunny had an inside, is all. It was like I said earlier, she was the strongest and most cunning cat on our team, by far. She singlehandedly was able to break us all out of jail. And it all went wrong…"

"Well, isn't she supposed to be there at the jail? Maybe she can help us again?" Smokepaw asked.

"Her and I aren't especially speaking to each other," Rye growled. "And I don't think she would. I don't even know if she's working with us or against us anymore. And I haven't spoken to her in quite a while. You and I, we're here to get in and get Jadepaw and Rainpaw out, and we're going to have nothing to do with Sunny. Okay?"

"Okay." Smokepaw mewed. "So basically what you're saying, is that there is no plan."

"Yep." Rye spoke grimly. "No plan."

They walked deeper into the darkness, and all of a sudden Smokepaw's gut clutched with anxiety. In the distance he could softly hear running, falling water. Neither spoke as they traveled the tunnel. Eventually, the absolute darkness was cut with smudges of faint line and both picked up the pace. Smokepaw bumped flatly into blunt end of the tunnel wall while Rye stopped elegantly, even with her weird headscarf. Cracks of light barely illuminated the tunnel. Rye sat back on her haunches and used both paws to push on the stone roof above her. After a moment, an enormous slab of sandy, colorful rock began to wiggle, enough Rye was able to push it up and light stabbed into the tunnel. She jumped and grabbed the rock with her claws, pulling herself into the air and out of the tunnel through the roof.

"Come on!" She hissed to Smokepaw waiting below.

He sloppily emulated her climb. They'd emerged into a length of arched stone hallway with slanted windows letting in shafts of light, illuminating dusty sand hanging in the air. Rye twitched her long spiked tail. "This way."

Instead of traveling down the hall, she turned and headed for an open part of the palace, where a long spiral staircase began, tracing the round entirity of the tower all the way up to a distant top where pale white light was sourced. "That goes up to Scylla's quarters," Rye whispered.

They crept by as silently as they could, staying against the wall where it was darkest, but it was still so relentlessly bright on Anima, that the darkest spot wasn't really dark at all. Smokepaw's nose was suddenly cloaked in a heavy musk. "I smell WindClan," he announced.

"You do?!" Rye's hiss was horrified. "We have to get out of here!"

He saw her spring forward, moments before his head was cloaked in darkness and he was stamped into the floor.

"Rye!" Smokepaw yelped, floundering frantically. There was something wrapped around his head, some sort of cloaking cloth or something. Teeth pricked his neck, and then his spine, and he tried to kick free, but his paws listlessly flailed in midair, touching nothing. He could feel that he was moving, swiftly – someone was carrying him somewhere. The scent of WindClan was everywhere, smothering him. And more distantly, ThunderClan.

Momentarily a metal gate clicked and then creaked and he collided hard with the stone ground. The cloth was ripped from his head, and he was blinded by Anima's stupid brightness all over. Distantly, he saw a cat standing over him, a couple of cats, and the smell of WindClan and ThunderClan intensified. But just as he was getting his bearings and getting a good look at them, the sound of a slamming metal gate rang out, and he saw their paws and tails heading swiftly away.

"Rye?" He mewled, feebly.

"Smokepaw? _Smokepaw?"_ Asked a she-cat's voice, but it wasn't the lower roughness of Rye's. "SMOKEPAW!" A cat collided with him, smothering him with nose-bumps and kneading paws and shaky, frightened purrs. "SMOKEPAW, SMOKEPAW, SMOKEPAW!"

Smokepaw's eyes adjusted to the light, and he saw the fluffy gray fur of Jadepaw right next to him, falling all over him. He stumbled a step back. "Jadepaw? Whoa. What are you doing here? Where's Rye? Where am I?"

"I'm right here," Rye grumbled, and he turned and saw her crumpled by the metal gate they'd entered through. She picked herself up with a shake, emitting a puff of crooked little feathers.

"Smokepaw!" Jadepaw insisted. "How did you get here?! Oh, I knew someone would come for me, I knew you guys would come, I knew it! Oh, thank StarClan!" She was shaking all over, her usually fluffy, groomed fur rumpled all over, falling out in places, a couple of mats having formed by her neck. "Oh StarClan, I am so, _so_ happy to see you! Oh, I've never been so happy in my life!" She was almost crying, both sad and happy crying, she was a shaking mess of emotions.

"Whoa, calm down, it's okay," Smokepaw said distantly. He looked between both she-cats, Jadepaw's nervous, shaking wreck, and Rye's disheveled, sinister cool. "Where are we?"

"Jail." Jadepaw and Rye answered in unison.

"So we made it?" Smokepaw looked up at the cell's long narrow window that was providing all the light.

"No," Rye growled. "We got ambushed. I should have known this was a stupid way to try and get in. Scylla probably knows all about that tunnel after we all escaped out of it last time."

"You guys – you guys have to help me," Jadepaw gasped, still completely shaking and falling apart. "My Clan, and Rainpaw's Clan, they're underground – they're under here, they're all asleep and they're all there, all tied up, and these cats – some of these cats, like they're…dead or changed or something, and there's blood, there's this whole platform covered in so much blood, it's underground. And these tails, there are tails, there are tails on the wall. We have to get out of here, we're not safe, it's not safe, I'm so scared. But you're here, you're here now, and I'm not alone anymore, you're here, oh thank StarClan, you're here, and I'm not alone."

"Listen, deep breath." Smokepaw said. "It won't help us at all of you're falling apart. Things will probably be okay. Well, maybe not, but let's pretend they will be for the sake of calming down. Jadepaw, did you see our Clans?"

"J-Just WindClan and ThunderClan," Jadepaw mewled, through hasty, deep breaths. "Something really, really bad is going on here. I mean, it's unspeakable. I can't even – I can't even talk about what I saw down there." She was wracked suddenly by a broken sob that never materialized. "I think that some of our Clanmates are dead, Smokepaw, I think some are dead and more are going to die, and maybe some of us too."

"They are." Rye said flatly from the corner.

"Jadepaw, it's bad," Smokepaw said to her, directly and firmly. "It's probably even more bad than you're realizing. And vice versa, apparently. Rosepaw and I, we learned so much while you guys have been in here. I mean everything is really, really messed up. Creare is in stalemate, and Create Space is broken, and we have these cats from an alternative universe that was here before us trapped here with us and trying to help us. It's too much to explain right now, but we came here to get you _out_ of here."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Rye said.

"Why not?" He rounded on her.

"Because now we're in jail, too! We got thrown in jail. We didn't break in. We're all in the exact same crappy position." Rye used a clawed paw to swipe her headscarf off her eyes, revealing sadness and shame in her blue pair. "I'm sorry, Jadepaw."

"Who… _are_ you?" Jadepaw had momentarily calmed down, if not only to regard Rye with a degree of fear and trepidation.

"Jadepaw, this is Rye, she's from…she's from the other universe," Smokepaw spoke. "She's been helping me."

"You haven't seen one of us before?" Rye asked, pricking up her ears. "What about Sunny?"

"Huh? Who?" Jadepaw tilted her head to the side.

"Hey, where's Rainpaw?" Smokepaw asked suddenly.

"He's not here," Jadepaw shook her head.

"What? Why not?"

"Scylla let him out the first night. So he could go find you guys and bring you here with him. I haven't seen him since. Haven't _you_ seen him? Back on Creare?"

"No," Smokepaw said. "Are you telling me nobody knows where Rainpaw is right now?"

Jadepaw flattened her ears in dismay. "I think Scylla tricked him."

Smokepaw huffed. "What a mess. This is what happens when you try to do stuff with other people instead of all by yourself alone."

Rye was looking at Jadepaw shiftily through the side of her narrow, calculating blue eyes. "Jadepaw…are you the only one here?"

"Yeah." Jadepaw dipped her head. "In my dream, I ran all the way down the hall and every cell was empty except mine. It's so so lonely, it's awful."

Rye suddenly rose to her paws and padded across the cell to the far wall, to where a crack revealed itself, a hole in the corner just large enough to see into the neighboring cell. Rye sighed and let out a heavy breath. "…Sunny?" She called.

There was no answer. The sunny colorful air was silent.

"Oh, fish." Rye hissed. "She's not here."

Neither Jadepaw or Smokepaw said anything.

"She's not _here!_ " Rye spat. "I knew it! I knew she would pull something like this! I mean we're trying – all of us, incompetent as we are, we'll all really trying here to sort out this mess we're all in, and she makes herself a liability once again! Every time, she makes it about _herself!_ Putting herself in the game, making herself an active player, making herself relevant. The only way we have any hope of beating all of this is if she just goes away and _stays away!"_

She banged her paw hard on the sandy stone floor. "I mean why does she _insist_ upon trying to be a part of things!"

"Why is she _so bad?"_ Smokepaw interjected loudly. "What is it about her that makes you so upset?"

"What?" Rye growled, eyes flashing dangerously.

"I don't know – what if her getting out of jail means she can actually help us? At this point, she doesn't even sound that bad, it's sounds like you're…like you're _jealous_ of her, or something, and she never did anything wrong at all!"

"She killed Jax!" Rye snarled.

"…who?"

"Jax! Our location creator! Our teammate who's dead! The one who was murdered! Sunny _killed_ him! It was all her fault! Everything! His death, our failure, the end of our universe, it was all her fault! If Sunny hadn't been such a wildcard, we could have ended Creare's stalemate, we _were_ strong enough to defeat Scylla and fix the balance between right and wrong, and create the new universe, and _everythi_ ng! But we didn't! We failed! We lost _every_ thing, and now we're stuck here forever."

Rye sat down heavily. She stared at the floor. Her usual cool, crafty composure was gone.

"Jeez," Smokepaw murmured.

"Honestly I don't even want to talk about it." She said. "I just wanted her to shrivel up and die in jail so the two of us remaining could try and find _some_ way to be happy."

"Why did she kill Jax?" Smokepaw asked anyway.

"Well…" Rye's eyes slid sideways. "Jax got us in trouble on accident. But it wasn't his fault. He was just gullible, and aloof. He didn't do well without direction, but he really was trying his best, and we needed him. But Sunny couldn't stand that. She wasn't okay with the way he was. Almost as if she thought he was too difficult to work with – when in reality, _she_ was!"

"Okay." Smokepaw said stonily. "I understand you. But I think we have more pressing things to worry about right now – I'm not saying Sunny escaping from jail isn't a problem, or isn't going to become a problem at some point, but the truth is, all three of us are trapped in Scylla's jail right now, we don't know how to get out, we're separated from our friends, and there's a very short countdown ticking to the end of our universe. So can we just…" He thought for a moment. "You know, bag the interpersonal friend drama and hatch a plan out of here so I can get off this hideous bright planet and go back to Creare and go back to doing nothing and talking to nobody."

"Yes, I want to get out of here," Jadepaw spoke. "And get back to Rosepaw and Rainpaw and whoever else and find a way to save all our Clanmates as soon as possible."

"I don't know if I'm wanting to be a part of _that_ , but yes, I agree with the sentiment," Smokepaw meowed.

"Okay." Rye agreed, composing herself once again.

"You know, one time, I was able to dream, and my sleep self woke up and actually walked down here and opened the gate for me," Jadepaw meowed. "But the last couple of times I've gone to sleep, I don't dream, and I don't wake up as her." She frowned sadly. "And I don't know why."  
"Sleep selves are fickle," Rye informed her. "Mine was the same way. It's like some stupid metaphysical thing where you can only "wake up" when you're in the right psychic headspace, and when you _need_ it."

"But maybe that's something hopeful?" Smokepaw asked. "That's a start. I was thinking, do you think it's possible Rainpaw would come back?"

"Unlikely," Rye said. "If Scylla sent him back to Creare to find Rosepaw and you and bring you back here, he's going to find Rosepaw and Rust and they'll tell him the truth about Scylla. If he does come back here, it'll be on a rescue mission same as we just took – and failed."

All three cats sighed, and stared at the floor deep in thought.

"If anything," Rye muttered grimly, "Rainpaw will find Rosepaw and Rust, and our absence will inspire yet another rescue mission on their part at a certain point and they'll make the same mistake we just did, Smokepaw. And then we'll all be in here."

"This is so bad," Jadepaw whispered. "This whole thing wasn't what I thought at all. I've never seen anything so difficult in my life."

"Stop wallowing," Smokepaw said shortly to both she-cats. "It's unbecoming."

The light shaft coming through the window started to turn green. A slight hue at first, and then it darkened, thickened until it was brilliant, bright enough it began to change how everyone in the cell looked and everything suddenly seemed green.

"What's going on?" Jadepaw asked jumping to her feet.

Jadepaw, Smokepaw and Rye all clustered under the window to try and see the slot and sky through its opening. Anima's sky was brilliant, sparkling green, overwhelmingly so, and growing brighter by the second. It was so blindingly bright that Smokepaw had to squint just to see.

"The light!" Jadepaw gasped. "It's happening again!"

Very distantly in the sky, through all the blinding green light, Smokepaw could see the reddish mass of Creare orbiting through the sky, and shooting out of its surface on one, isolated spot, a steady, blinding beam of green light.

"What is that?" Smokepaw hissed. "What keeps happening out there?"

"Do you think cats are really evolving?" Rye asked speechlessly. "How is that even possible?"

"I don't know," Smokepaw said.

"Who could _possibly_ be evolving?" Rye whispered.

On Creare, the dais glowed overwhelmingly green, as if possessed by its own light.

Above it, a cat lifted into the air, higher and higher.

The light disappeared. Above the dais, the cat hovered perennially.


End file.
